Kelli Davis
• Founder of The Happsters •
• Instagram Sensation •
• Social Media Manager @ IDEA Health & Fitness Association •
Age: 27
Happy Song of the Moment:
Anything “Tay” [lor Swift]
Happy Role model: Gabrielle Bernstein
#imahappster What a brilliant name, right? Yep. So brilliant, in fact, that both Kelli and I came up with it before we even knew each other! I wanted to be angry and mourn the loss of my idea and hashtag, but I couldn’t help but simultaneously fall in love with the damn girl’s blog! Don’t you just hate that? I saw that she had created a Pen Pal program called HappsterMail, and I promptly applied to receive my match! Ironically, that day… #ibecameahappster.
Allow me to introduce blogger, instagrammer, and happiness guru, Kelli Davis!
Do yourself a solid, and join the 65.5k + people following Kelli (@happsters) for a daily happiness quotes and facts. I can certainly tell you it brightens my day!
Kelli is a recently engaged, USC graduate, with a knack for bringing people together and spreading happiness. Two of my favorite qualities in a person. 💁
She revealed to me in our interview, that she takes very seriously, the responsibility of “matchmaking” in her HappsterMail program. After careful evaluation of each happster’s questionnaire, she pairs them up and creates friendships across the world with a click of a button. And MAN is she good at it. I absolutely adore my British penpal, Laura.
I finally realized, what better Happiness Guru for Friends & Family Month and so I asked her the questions I was dying to know:
1. [Jess] So, the big one, where did you get the brilliant idea for Happster Mail?
[Kelli] I really wanted to connect the community. At first I thought maybe locally – small groups, masterminds. Then I started seeing this community on Instagram through hashtags: #penpalswanted #snailmailrevolution. I saw the demand for it on an account I followed called @paperedthoughts. She was being flooded with requests to be her penpal. I realized this was a great opportunity to bring these people together! Currently, I am developing other projects and so HappsterMail will be on pause until January. In the meantime, you can apply here and be at the top of the list to be paired up in 2016!
2. [Jess] It’s Friends & Family month here on the blog and I love the idea of making new friends in non-traditional ways. Can you tell us about any happsters who have formed great friendships through your program?
[Kelli] I always look at the hashtag and see the connection growing. I matched up my best friend with a happster in another state and they have gotten so close. In her most recent letter she included her wedding invitation!
[Jess] That’s incredible. It really gives people a chance to slow down and pull back and get to know each other. They don’t have the chance to stalk each other before deciding about each other.
3. [Jess] You completed a 10-week “Science of Happiness” course at UC Berkeley, and obviously something really stuck! Enlighten us! When it comes to happier relationships with friends & family, what was your biggest takeaway?
[Kelli] The course stressed the importance of social connections. Connections outside of commenting on someone’s photo on Facebook. The one-on-one connection that isn’t public for everyone to see is important. The intimacy and trust is not there when it’s public.
4. [Jess] I know you are working on some new projects, outside of Happster Mail. Can you give us any sneak peeks?
[Kelli] I’m working with my friend, Gina on a podcast all about happiness! We will interview all kinds of people, from happiness experts to every day happy people, about how they stay happy and their definition of happiness. I will be announcing it on Instagram pretty soon, so stay tuned!
5. [Jess] Your projects revolve around the idea that “The world would be a better place if we all went OUT OF OUR WAY to spread happiness.” You have done just that at 27 year old, brightening the lives of over 65 thousand Instagramers, tons more through the ingenious HappsterMail & now through “Morning Mantras”. Do you have any friendship and family advice for our generation, blessed and cursed with over-convenient technology and social media?
[Kelli] You know, it’s so crazy how attached people are to their phones. I try my best to give my full attention to my friends and family when I’m with them because that’s what they deserve! I try to keep my phone out of sight. If it’s out on the table you can’t help but look at it. and that makes people feel like what they’re saying comes second to whoever or whatever is on your phone. Also, when it comes to my fiancé I’ve been keeping my phone outside of the bedroom. I noticed my phone was the first thing I reached for and last thing I looked at before we went to bed – not exactly the healthiest relationship habit.
Do you have a question for Kelli? Are you curious about one of her programs or upcoming book? Ask it all in the comments section below!
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