Today we’d like to introduce you to Antoni Tzavelas

Hi Antoni, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?

As I have a very diverse career journey through six different careers, I started off my career as a fashion designer and was designing clothing for almost a decade. I loved my career in fashion, but in 2003, the fashion industry imploded here in Canada where I’m from and had left me for broke. It opens the door to new opportunities that led me to enter the tech industry. Upon acceptance of my ending career and fashion, a friend of mine told me how much money he was making in the tech industry which led me to go back to school and take a database administration course at my local community college. I graduated a year later, and after six months landed my first role in tech as a systems administrator.

My career journey in tech brought me through a slew of different roles from systems administrator, cloud engineer, DevOps engineer, Cloud trainer, and finally landing as a team coach. The role of being a team coach, it allowed me to explore what makes teams, efficient, collaborative, and of course, happy. It was then when I started to discover that the happier a team was, the more engaged they were in the better they performed.

My leader at the time had stated that he loved how I showed up, always so happy and positive, and wanted that for his teams. This is what got me through the door to practice happiness efforts with teams, yet it was only when he had asked me the question “Antoni, how are you always so happy?” did it really kick off my reflection of a deeper view into my “recipe for happiness”, along with the recipe for happiness in the teams that I was working with. It opened up such a deep reflection that it exposed “my why”, and had me questioning why happiness and positivity are so important to me and how I could scale this to others across the globe.

This brought me back to my very first action to foster happiness, back when I was a systems administrator. I found myself in a gloomy basement at work and unhappiness that I couldn’t shake for months. It lacked positivity, happiness, and felt sad every time I walked in. I could see that others were feeling the same way too.

I thought to myself, how can I change this so that I could feel better about coming to work?

So after work that one Tuesday, I went down the street to an outlet store and stumbled upon a bowtie that stood out to me and made me smile. It gave me a sense of warmth and happiness and was exactly what I needed to bring me out of my funk. So I purchased it and decided to wear it the next day.

As I came in the next day with my bowtie on, and a huge smile on my face, I was constantly approached with the question “what’s with the bowtie?” complimented with an added smile to their question. As the day went on, I started to notice a shift in energy within the department that all stemmed from the smiles that were fostered by my bowtie. An aura that was no longer dark and gloomy, but bright and happy.

To keep the spirit of this happiness alive I decided that every Wednesday I would wear a bowtie coining this day Bowtie Wednesday. This ignited a wave of positivity every week moving forward, proving that joy can be cultivated when focusing on one’s own happiness, even in the most unlikely work environments and showing that we can make a big impact on our happiness at work.

Simply by starting with ourselves.

Through this reflection, it showed me that I have been practising a mindset of positivity for years that brought me happiness, no matter the career, environment, or organization. A practice that I not only wanted to share with others, but a practice that was a legacy of my mother. This is when I came to the realization that I wanted to spread my message far and wide to as many as possible through the conduit of public speaking, books, articles, and coaching.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

It was a struggle from the very beginning. My first career change was one of the most difficult struggles as I navigated poverty as a husband, parent and provider of my family. In order to restore normalcy, I not only took on schooling, but took on two part-time jobs as well. it was a very tough time but if I had to do it over, I wouldn’t change a thing. This taught me resiliency, perseverance, and grit. values that are developed within struggle.

With each career change, I took on a common strategy of upskilling, relationship development, and application of these new skills. Using this formula every time it opened up doors, that originally seemed extremely difficult, yeah ended up being easier than I thought.

If I were to think back to the core element that helped me navigate these struggles, it was happiness. Using this as my Northstar, I was able to take on and navigate any obstacles along the way.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?

You know the key to improving your business starts with a happy, high-performing team, but your team just isn’t it? That’s where Smiling Bowtie comes in. We use an underlying model based on positive psychology to define a team’s happiness blueprint, along with each member’s blueprint, as well. This leads to a more productive, collaborative, and communicative environment where your team wants to show up to on Monday mornings.

This all starts with a Keynote speech on happiness discussing the origins and the importance of The Happiness Blueprint and the importance of using happiness as your North Star. This is usually followed up with a workshop to explore one’s individual happiness and coming together as a team to discuss what’s important to team members and how they can work together harmoniously as a team to integrate each member’s “recipe for happiness”.

Central to my philosophy is the idea of “finding your bowtie.” It symbolizes the journey toward personal happiness and encouraging positivity in our circles. Through simple positivity practices, I aim to improve workplace atmospheres and increase overall joy.

My objective is clear: guide individuals to prioritize their happiness in every aspect of their lives. By offering straightforward, impactful strategies, I empower people to unlock their full potential. This work is not just my career; it’s my contribution to making the world a more inspired and joyful place.

I am most proud of the inspiration and impact I am having on others, to start seeing happiness as an important element in their lives, workplaces, and in everything they do.

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?

I am an athlete and an Ironman finisher. Through the process of training for the event, I have used happiness as my North Star to foster the resiliency I needed to finish one of the most difficult achievements in my life. Although I no longer compete in Ironman, I continue to use running and cycling as my method for fitness of body and mind, while still competing in marathons and half marathons across the country.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://smilingbowtie.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smilingbowtie/