Houston fitness guru takes her expertise mobile with new app

Fit tech

Lizzie DeLacy, founder of DeLacy Wellness, launched a new platform called Bodypeace offering wellness and exercise tips through the app. Courtesy of DeLacy Wellness

As time spent on mobile devices stretches longer and attention spans get shorter, a Houstonian thinks she has a solution to combine personal technology and a healthy lifestyle.

Lizzie DeLacy, founder of DeLacy Wellness, has launched a new app called Bodypeace that offers workout sessions, recipes, and tips for a healthier lifestyle, but in a different way than consumers might be used to.

"Rather than focusing on really long sessions, though we have a couple in there, we focus on short 5 minute sessions, so anyone can fit movement into their schedule and lifestyle," DeLacy tells InnovationMap. "Additionally, we break it down by body part focus, because oftentimes people don't know necessarily what exact movement or pose or stretch they might need."

DeLacy worked as a private fitness instructor for years before deciding to create the Bodypeace app to make her coaching and practices accessible to more people. Her goal is to help as many people as possible feel better so they can grow to be the best version of themselves, referring to this concept as "Eventual Energy."

The Bodypeace app, which launched on iTunes and Google Play on July 17, allows users to filter by body part, choosing between an all body session, or focus on a specific spot such as hamstrings, hips, back, shoulders, and more.

"In my experience as a yoga instructor, I saw that these are pain points for a lot of people," says DeLacy.

The app tailors content for the user by asking a series of questions about workout habits, and lifestyle. There is a free trial period for users to explore the app, as well as paid options, $17.99 a month or $119.99 a year.

"The busier people get the less they want to spend time in their cars or pay the fees that are associated with gym memberships, and having the ability to do something from the comfort of your own home or on demand that fits your schedule," says DeLacy. "I think it's really appealing to a lot of people, myself included."

DeLacy shares that many fitness apps out there geared towards getting a six pack or losing weight can be intimidating to those that have never worked out before or have an injury that they're recovering from. She designed her app to be accessible for all fitness levels, ages, and genders.

"The content on Bodypeace is really for the athletes and the 'never-evers' alike," DeLacy tells InnovationMap. "There is a whole group of people that are either new to working out or have never considered it before."

DeLacy founded DeLacy Wellness in 2016, a year after she moved to Houston. DeLacy is a certified yoga instructor and holds a health coaching certification. The company, which is privately funded, has two full-time staff, DeLacy and her partner and COO Jack Martin, two advisory board members, two instructors, and one community contributor.

DeLacy tells InnovationMap that on the community portion of the Bodypeace app, there is a lot of free information available for users to test the content. DeLacy and her team hope to connect wellness content creators and contributors with people who are looking for information to feel and live better.

"We're hoping to create a platform where you're doing movement and you're also going to learn about movement, nutrition, mental health, and other topics dealing with wellness," says DeLacy.


From what you wear to where you go, here are some Houston fitness startups changing the game. Courtesy of Accel Lifestyle

4 fitness-focused Houston startups changing the industry

Business exercise

Houston has developed into a city full of boutique fitness studios and updated parks, and now the city is seeing fitness startups popping up as well. From creating a smell-free fabric to engaging NASA technology into training, these Houston fitness startups are working out innovative ideas into the exercise industry.

Accel Lifestyle

Courtesy of Accel Lifestyle

Megan Eddings tried everything to get the stink out of her husband's workout clothes, but nothing worked completely. With her background in chemistry, she knew there was something she could do to create a fabric that didn't hold on to the bacteria that built up in normal fabrics. So, she got to work. Now, years later, she's finally perfected her product and is ready to launch by summer.

"I never thought it would take this so long to make a T-shirt," Eddings says. "But, if you do it right and in an ethical way, it just takes a little longer."

Eddings says she'll have six different styles of men's and women's shirts to start, and they will be available on the Accel website, which recently got a facelift. Read more about Accel's journey here.

Kanthaka

Courtesy of Kanthaka

Finding a quality personal training session that fits your schedule and location hasn't really been done before Houston-based Kanthaka launched in 2017. Founder Sylvia Kampshoff wanted something that allowed her to exercise with someone on her own schedule, and with people who valued customer service.

The app uses location technology similar to that of ride sharing apps to allow users to book training sessions with certified personal trainers, all of whom are heavily vetted and background checked by Kampshoff and her team.

"Many trainers at gyms or who work privately aren't certified," she says. "And that was important to me, that we have professionals who understand training and the body. And making sure our clients felt safe was a huge priority for me. We interview every trainer personally to ensure they not only meet our standards but also share our goals."

Since launch, Kanthaka has expanded to Austin and is expanding to San Antonio in April and Atlanta in May. The company has secured angel investment and has seen a month over month growth of 10 to 50 percent since the end of 2018. Read more about Kanthaka here.

Muvve

Courtesy of Muvve

What would you get if you crossed a dating app with an event planner focused on creating friendships around fitness? Houston-based Muvve. The app, which was created by Avi Ravishankar and Julian Se, came from the idea that working out, training for a marathon, or just staying active is way better with a buddy.

"Intrinsic motivation is hard to find, especially in individual sports, like running, cycling, or yoga," Ravishankar says. "Whereas, in team sports, like basketball or volleyball, you have the team to train with and motivate you."

The app, which launched in May of 2018, acts like a network for fitness lovers — just like a dating app would connect potential romantic partners. Dating apps, actually, were a big influence on Ravishankar, he says.

"I fell in love with dating apps. It was this mind-blowing idea for me of how many people you can connect with — even if it's not for dating," he says. "The amount of people I have met just through technology always blows my mind. There's so much power in it."

Ravishankar plans on growing the app's user base to 10,000 users by summer. Read more about Muvve here.

Sutaria Training & Fitness

Blake Hobson/ST&F

Sutaria Training & Fitness LLC, a Houston-based personal training company, has a new partnership with NASA that aims to provide exclusive access to astronaut training equipment to clients.

Jay Sutaria, founder and lead trainer, says that the equipment at NASA, called the force plate, shows how much power a client's body is producing in specific areas and how that power drops over time. The data produced by these machines can help trainers customize and tweak workouts for each client to take training a step further.

Sutaria and his partners at NASA recently tested the equipment with the Chinese olympic boxing team to see how it can be applied to workouts at NASA's location in Clear Lake.

"It's exclusive access to the equipment that is not available openly in Houston," says Sutaria. "NASA is a reference for us to become better trainers." Click here to read more about ST&F.

Ad Placement 300x100
Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

5 Houston innovators who made headlines in July 2025

Featured Innovators

Editor's note: Local innovators made headlines in July with a first-in-the-U.S. successful health procedure, the discovery of an ancient Mayan tomb, and new leadership roles that will shape Houston's future.

Here are five Houston innovators to know right now.

Dr. Kenneth Liao, Baylor College of Medicine

Dr. Kenneth Liao and a team at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center used a surgical robot to implant a new heart in a 45-year-old male patient. Photo courtesy Baylor College of Medicine.

A team at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, led by Dr. Kenneth Liao, successfully performed the first fully robotic heart transplant in the United States earlier this year, the Houston hospital recently shared.

Liao, a professor and chief of cardiothoracic transplantation and circulatory support at Baylor College of Medicine and chief of cardiothoracic transplantation and mechanical circulatory support at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, used a surgical robot to implant a new heart in a 45-year-old male patient through preperitoneal space in the abdomen by making small incisions. Learn more.

Arlen F. Chase and Diane Z. Chase, University of Houston

Arlen and Diane Chase, UH

The Chases. Courtesy of UH

Two University of Houston archaeologists have made scientific history with the discovery of a Mayan king's tomb in Belize.

The UH team led by husband and wife scientists Arlen F. Chase and Diane Z. Chase made the discovery at Caracol, the largest Mayan archeological site in Belize. Their work used airborne light detection and ranging technology to uncover previously hidden roadways and structures that have been reclaimed by the jungle. Learn more.

Lawson Gow, Greentown Labs

Lawson Gow, founder of The Cannon, will lead Greentown Houston. Photo courtesy Greentown Labs.

Greentown Labs has added a new leader to its Houston team, naming Lawson Gow as its first Head of Houston.

Gow is the founder of The Cannon, a coworking space with seven locations in the Houston area. He also recently served as managing partner at Houston-based investment and advisory firm Helium Capital. According to Greentown, Gow will "enhance the founder experience, cultivate strategic partnerships, and accelerate climatetech solutions" in his new role. Learn more.

Pothik Chatterjee, Digital Health Institute

Pothik Chatterjee was named executive director of Rice University's and Houston Methodist's Digital Health Institute, effective May 1. Photo courtesy Rice University.

The creation late last year of the Digital Health Institute was a major step into the future for both Rice University and Houston Methodist, for whom the institute is a joint venture. The latest news for the new institute is the appointment of Pothik Chatterjee to the role of executive director.

Chatterjee’s role is to help grow the collaboration between the institutions and find commercial opportunities within the research portfolio. Learn more.

Rice University MBA programs rank among top 5 in prestigious annual report

top of class

Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business MBA programs have been ranked among the top five in the country again in The Princeton Review’s 2025 Best Business Schools rankings.

The university's MBA program in finance earned a No. 3 ranking, climbing up two spots from its 2024 ranking. Finance MBA programs at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business and New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business were the only ones to outrank Rice, claiming No. 2 and No. 1 spots, respectively.

Rice's online MBA program was ranked No. 5, compared to No. 4 last year. Indiana University's Bloomington Kelley School of Business' online program claimed the top spot.

“These rankings reflect the commitment of our faculty and staff, the drive and talent of our students and the strong support of our alumni and partners,” Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice Business, said in a news release. “They are exceptional honors but also reminders — not just of our top-tier programs and world-class faculty and students but of our broader impact on the future of business education.”

Rice also ranked at No. 6 for “greatest resources for minority students."

The Princeton Review’s 2025 business school rankings are based on data from surveys of administrators at 244 business schools as well as surveys of 22,800 students enrolled in the schools’ MBA programs during the previous three academic years.

"The schools that made our lists for 2025 share four characteristics that inform our criteria for designating them as 'best': excellent academics, robust experiential learning components, outstanding career services, and positive feedback about them from enrolled students we surveyed," Rob Franek, The Princeton Review's editor-in-chief, said in a press release. "No b-school is best overall or best for all students, but to all students considering earning an MBA, we highly recommend these b-schools and salute them for their impressive programs."

Rice's finance program has ranked in the top 10 for eight consecutive years, and its online MBA has ranked in the top five for four years.

Rice and the University of Houston also claimed top marks on the Princeton Review's entrepreneurship rankings. Rice ranks as No. 1 on the Top 50 Entrepreneurship: Grad list, and the University of Houston ranked No. 1 on Top 50 Entrepreneurship: Ugrad. Read more here.

Houston named ‘star’ metro for artificial intelligence in new report

eyes on AI

A new report declares Houston one of the country’s 28 “star” hubs for artificial intelligence.

The Houston metro area appears at No. 16 in the Brookings Institution’s ranking of metros that are AI “stars.” The metro areas earned star status based on data from three AI buckets: talent, innovation and adoption. Only two places, the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, made Brookings’ “superstar” list.

According to Brookings, the Houston area had 11,369 job postings in 2024 that sought candidates with AI skills, 210 AI startups (based on Crunchbase data from 2014 to 2024), and 113 venture capital deals for AI startups (based on PitchBook data from 2023 to 2024).

A number of developments are boosting Houston’s AI profile, such as:

Brookings also named Texas’s three other major metros as AI stars:

  • No. 11 Austin
  • No. 13 Dallas-Fort Worth
  • No. 40 San Antonio

Brookings said star metros like Houston “are bridging the gap” between the two superstar regions and the rest of the country. In 2025, the 28 star metros made up 46 percent of the country’s metro-area employment but 54 percent of AI job postings. Across the 28 metros, the number of AI job postings soared 139 percent between 2018 and 2025, according to Brookings.

Around the country, dozens of metros fell into three other categories on Brookings’ AI list: “emerging centers” (14 metros), “focused movers” (29 metros) and “nascent adopters” (79 metros).

View All Listings