WORLD HAPPINESS FELLOWSHIP

WATE LIVING EAST TN INTERVIEW

On March 20, the World Happiness Fellowship brings together a dynamic cross-section of Knoxville, from C-suite executives to emerging leaders spanning industries including healthcare, finance, automotive, education, nonprofit, and entrepreneurship.

This annual International Day of Happiness gathering blends high-level thought leadership with inclusive community connection, creating meaningful networking across sectors and leadership levels while spotlighting organizations committed to culture, performance, and impact in East Tennessee.

AI Is Changing Work — Here’s How Leaders Ensure Humans Stay Essential

• ~31% increase in productive energy
• ~37% higher sales performance
• ~40% greater likelihood of promotion (leadership readiness)
• Up to 3× greater creativity
• ~23% reduction in the negative effects of stress

These effects are durable. When positive habits are practiced for as little as three weeks, gains persist months later — indicating systemic change in how the brain processes information, not temporary motivation.

A retreat-style experience for leaders who need to refuel.

This is not another conference.
It’s a pause.

March 20, 2026

9am-2pm

Summit 2 Banquet Room

Crown Plaza Hotel

401 W Summit Hill Dr SW

Downtown Knoxville, TN 37902

The World Happiness Fellowship is an in-person retreat designed for leaders across industries and disciplines who are carrying a lot—and want to leave resourced, grounded, and clear.

Who will be there:
Leaders from business, nonprofit, government, education, healthcare, and community organizations.

Come as you are.
Leave refueled.

FINAL DAY TO PURCHASE TICKETS DUE TO CATERING MARCH 15

Opening Keynote

Elia Gourgouris, PhD

America’s Happiness Doctor

How to Effectively Navigate ANY Life Challenge with Resilience & Manifest Success & Happiness

Dr. Elia Gourgouris, widely known as America’s Happiness Doctor, is the author of the #1 best-selling Amazon book 7 Paths to Lasting Happiness, which has been translated into five languages. He is also the co-author of the highly acclaimed book 7 Keys to Navigating a Crisis: A Practical Guide to Emotionally Dealing with Pandemics and Other Disasters.

He is the President and Co-Founder of The Kindness Factor International and recently produced the documentary feature film For Such a Time As This, exploring the global impact of kindness.

This keynote equips professionals with a framework for navigating challenges with resilience and for creating workplace cultures that foster well‑being, engagement, and performance. Attendees will explore four personality responses to challenges and learn to shift to a Navigator mindset, enabling effective leadership in any circumstance. The session highlights the power of H.O.T. (Honest, Open, Transparent) communication, the traits that define resilient leaders, and practical strategies for building inclusive, resilient, high‑trust cultures that drive organizational success. Participants will leave with actionable insights to strengthen resilience skills across their teams and enhance overall organizational effectiveness.

Interactive Speaker

Kim Black

The Belonging Effect: Escape Room Edition – Unlocking the Keys to Trust & Wellbeing Experience 

Kim Black is the Former Pwc Wellbeing Director and Founder of Sage Leadership & Wellness and a leadership consultant, certified executive coach, and speaker whose work sits at the intersection of organizational psychology, happiness science, and leadership effectiveness.

She brings over 25 years of experience at PwC, where she held multiple senior leadership roles, including serving as Wellbeing Director for PwC’s U.S. and Mexico workforce of approximately 75,000 employees.

This isn’t a lecture - it’s an experience. In this high-energy breakout, participants become part of The Belonging Escape Room, an interactive simulation where teams must “unlock” inclusion, trust, and wellbeing through real-world HR challenges. Each lock represents a workplace dilemma: misfired feedback, invisible burnout, or an overlooked voice. To escape, participants must decode data, rewrite dialogue, and design rituals that build psychological safety.

Along the way, they’ll discover how belonging directly drives performance and retention: Gallup research shows disengagement now costs organizations $8.9 trillion globally, while replacing a single employee costs 50–200% of annual salary. Gamified learning increases knowledge retention by 75% (ATD), so participants leave with muscle memory, not just notes.

The session closes with each team designing a “Belonging Ritual Card” - a practical, measurable culture habit they can pilot within 30 days.

• Experience how trust, and wellbeing influence team performance under pressure.

• Diagnose three everyday leadership blind spots that erode belonging and design rituals to fix them and prevent them from happening again.

• Leave with a ready-to-use “Belonging Ritual” to implement immediately - and a business case to sustain it.

Kim Black’s Speaking Reel

Lunch Feature: The 15-Minute CEO Charge (Virtual)

Enrique Rubio

CEO and Founder, Hacking HR, Fulbright Scholar and Engineer

Technology with a Soul: How We Can Leverage AI to Strengthen Human Happiness at Work

While AI promises efficiency, speed, and scale, it also risks deepening isolation, fragmentation, and disconnection if deployed without intention. Drawing on insights from global organizations and communities, this session challenges the assumption that smarter tools automatically lead to better work experiences. Instead, it reframes AI as a powerful enabler that can either erode or strengthen trust, collaboration, and well-being depending on the choices leaders make.

Closer and Host Alexia Georghiou, The AI Paradox: Reducing Technostress While Elevating Talent Performance Through Happiness Habits

Alexia Georghiou is a keynote speaker on happiness and human-centered leadership, organizational development consultant, and founder of the Knoxville Happiness Coalition, parent company of World Happiness Fellowship. Her book, The Future of Work is Human and The Future of Success is Happiness, has been featured at national and international conferences. Through her V.A.L.U.E.S. Model—Vision, Action, Leadership, Unity, Engagement, and Synthesis; she coaches leaders to align performance with purpose.

As an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee, Alexia teaches professional development courses on civility, listening as a leadership skill, executive presence and burnout. Her writing has appeared in Florida SHRM Newswire and MSN News, and she has been interviewed by the Knoxville News Sentinel and HR Dive. Alexia has lived experience as an executive woman in menopause. Her work, “Menopause Matters: Supporting Women in the Workplace,” has been featured in HR Pulse by The American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA).

Under her leadership, the Knoxville Happiness Coalition Academy is recognized by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® and SHRM-SCP® through self-paced online and in-person learning programs.

Alexia Georghiou’s Keynote Level Up With Happiness University of Tennessee Systemwide Administrative Professionals Summit 2025

SPONSOR FOR YEAR ROUND EXPOSURE

Sponsoring the Happiness Event 2026 offers unmatched value for your brand. As the exclusive sponsor in your category, your company gains worldwide media exposure, reaching a joyful, engaged audience eager for positive experiences. Your sponsorship ensures high brand visibility across all event promotions, digital campaigns, and on-site activations, creating lasting impressions. With the sponsorship period lasting until March 20, 2027, your brand enjoys continuous association with happiness, positivity, and community engagement, positioning you as a leader in your field while connecting with audiences in a meaningful and memorable way.

Executive Presence Mastering Leadership and Influence

Email Alexia Georghiou to learn more about benefits of sponsoring.

Become the leader of happiness in your city. Host an official March 20 event with the World Happiness Fellowship license. 

Learn more about the licensing contract and fees HERE

Contact Alexia Georghiou to see if your city is available.

One World. One Heartbeat. It’s Time to Connect.

The escalating conflict involving Israel, Iran, and the United States — and the ripple effects across the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean — are being felt far beyond government offices and military briefings. They are being felt in homes, in workplaces, and in the hearts of people who are hearing explosions, watching uncertainty unfold, and worrying about loved ones.

For many, the language of “happiness” can feel almost inappropriate at a time like this. When missiles and drones are in the sky, happiness is not the conversation.

Resilience is.

Resilience means being present with one another in the now. It means having real conversations. It means sitting together, crying if we need to, hugging when words are not enough, and looking one another in the eye as human beings who care about each other’s safety and dignity.

At the Knoxville Happiness Coalition, we believe community matters most when the world feels uncertain. Many of our friends and partners across the Middle East and Europe — including family in Cyprus — are experiencing the emotional weight of this moment. We want them to know they are not alone.

A small but meaningful support initiative is beginning with colleagues and friends in Doha, including Wael Khoury. Our hope is to listen, learn, and create space for people to speak honestly about what they are experiencing. From there, we hope to replicate this initiative in other communities connected to the region.

This is not about pretending everything is fine. It is about showing up for one another with compassion and humanity. Even in times of conflict, people can still choose care over fear and connection over isolation.

We are fortunate to have experienced professionals who can help guide these conversations responsibly and thoughtfully. But at its core, this effort is about people supporting people.

Now is the time for humanity to rise — to offer support, and also to receive it.

If you are connected to these regions or feel called to participate, we invite you to join the conversation.

You are welcome to schedule a Zoom call with Alexia Georghiou to explore how we can support our friends and communities together.

Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do in difficult times is simply show up.

Let’s connect. 

Meet with Alexia

The Fellowship is just the beginning. It connects you to the Knoxville Happiness Coalition’s year-round leadership community; where monthly academy offerings and in-person gatherings support leaders in sustaining clarity, energy, and wellbeing. JOIN US