“If you are leading through complexity, change, or burnout and you want leadership to feel more steady, more human, and more effective, I invite you to join us.” ~ Alexia Georghiou, Founder World Happiness Fellowship

The World Happiness Fellowship is an in-person, retreat-style learning experience designed to strengthen leadership effectiveness through the application of evidence-based happiness and wellbeing practices. Grounded in research on cognitive performance, motivation, and resilience, the session positions happiness as a leadership capability that directly influences engagement, productivity, retention, and organizational performance.

Participants will examine the relationship between leader wellbeing and organizational outcomes, explore practical happiness habits that enhance resilience and emotional regulation, and reflect on how human-centered leadership behaviors create sustainable, high-performing workplace cultures. The experience integrates structured instruction, guided reflection, and facilitated group dialogue to support immediate application in professional settings.

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

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

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.

Expect research-backed insights, globally recognized speakers, and space to breathe, reflect, and reconnect with what sustains you as a leader.

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

Tickets:
🎟️ Through the investment and support of the Knoxville Happiness Coalition, tickets for our Knoxville leadership community are available at a preferred rate of $30 per seat.

The Fellowship is just the beginning. It connects you to the Knoxville Happiness Coalition’s year-round leadership community; where monthly webinars and in-person gatherings support leaders in sustaining clarity, energy, and wellbeing long after the event ends.

Get the BUNDLE OF JOY!!! Annual Membership to the Knoxville Happiness Coalition and World Happiness Fellowship 1.0 with $199 Founding Member offer included VIEW DETAILS

SHRM® PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CREDITS

HR professionals can earn 3 PDCs toward SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification for an additional $15 optional add on.

• Attendees will receive a separate email with instructions to add PDCs. 

Come as you are.
Leave refueled.

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.

Interactive Speaker

Kim Black

The Belonging Effect: Escape Room Edition – Unlocking the Keys to Inclusion, 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.

• Experience how trust, inclusion, 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.

HAPPINESS AS A PERFORMANCE STRATEGY: WHY POSITIVE BRAIN STATES DRIVE MEASURABLE BUSINESS RESULTS:

THE BRAIN’S EMOTIONAL STATE DIRECTLY INFLUENCES JUDGMENT, SPEED, CREATIVITY, AND RESILIENCE. EXTENSIVE RESEARCH PUBLISHED IN HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW SHOWS THAT PERFORMANCE IMPROVES WHEN PEOPLE OPERATE IN A POSITIVE STATE FIRST—NOT AFTER SUCCESS.

THIS IS NOT A CULTURAL OR WELLNESS INITIATIVE. IT IS A COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE STRATEGY.

THE DATA: BUSINESS OUTCOMES THAT MATTER

“World Happiness Fellowship embodies happiness as a science, skill and tool to empower employers and employees alike to embrace simple actionable strategies together to improve overall wellbeing.” ~Alexia Georghiou, Founder World Happiness Fellowship 

WHEN INDIVIDUALS AND TEAMS OPERATE IN A POSITIVE MINDSET, RESEARCH CONSISTENTLY SHOWS:

• ~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.

“When we play together, we stay together. World Happiness Fellowship builds momentum throughout the event as participants experience the power of happiness science collectively.” ~Alexia Georghiou, Founder World Happiness Fellowship 

THESE PRACTICES ARE INTENTIONALLY SIMPLE. THEIR EFFECTIVENESS LIES IN NEUROLOGICAL REPETITION, NOT TIME INVESTMENT.

Closing Keynote Speaker

Enrique Rubio

CEO and Founder, Hacking HR

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

Can we leverage AI to make people happier at work?

AI alone will not create happiness, but how we design work, relationships, and communities around AI absolutely can. This keynote explores why community, belonging, and human connection matter more than ever as technology reshapes how we 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.

The session introduces the idea of being connected by design: intentionally shaping workplaces where AI supports human relationships. Participants will explore how AI can help reduce friction, free up time for meaningful interactions, and reinforce a sense of belonging, when guided by human-centered values and community-first thinking.

Ultimately, this keynote invites leaders to rethink the future of work not as a technological race, but as a human one. Moving from isolation to belonging requires more than new tools. It requires new ways of thinking, new forms of leadership, and a renewed commitment to building workplaces where people feel seen, supported, and connected in an AI-powered world.

Session Objectives

By the end of this keynote, participants will be able to:

1. Reframe the role of AI at work from a productivity tool to a human-enabling force that supports happiness and well-being.
2. Understand why community and belonging are critical drivers of happiness in increasingly digital and AI-augmented workplaces.
3. Identify how poorly designed AI implementations can unintentionally increase isolation and unhappiness, and how to avoid it.
4. Explore practical ways leaders can design AI-enabled environments that strengthen trust, collaboration, and connection.
5. Rethink leadership in the age of AI by placing human happiness, relationships, and purpose at the center of technology decisions.