Published: February 24, 2025
By: Julianna Steen
17- and 15-year-old sisters Mercedes and Anastasia Korngut co-founded their business Small Bits of Happiness after struggling with their own daily happiness. Soon after, they began co-hosting a podcast called Hack Your Happiness, where they interview iconic guests—Olympians, New York Times bestselling authors, Oscar winners, and top professors—to help teens and parents discover their own happiness. Hack Your Happiness ranked in the top 15% of videos on Spotify in 2024. Their mission is to inspire listeners with practical tools and engaging stories that bridge generations and spark positive impact. Discover how they have integrated happiness into their daily lives as teens, the best advice they’ve heard, the challenges they’ve overcome, and more!
What inspired you both to start Hack Your Happiness?
As two teens, we know just how challenging it can be to take advice from the adults in our lives—parents, coaches, teachers, etc. Within our company, Small Bits of Happiness, we focus on helping people of all ages (especially teens) find more happiness in daily life and build happy habits. As a part of this mission, we wanted to facilitate conversations with iconic individuals, who teens look up to, and gain their happiness advice and life hacks, for teens to follow, and adults to share with their children.
Did you face any challenges in getting started? If so, how did you overcome them?
In the beginning, one of our greatest challenges was thinking on our feet! Being able to actively and intentionally listen to what the guest shares, appreciate their insight, and ask a meaningful question in response to their previous statement. It’s a lot to do at once, and definitely takes practice! As we’ve interviewed more guests, we’ve built up this skill.
Your podcast features some incredible guests—Olympians, bestselling authors, and even Oscar winners! How do you choose your guests, and what’s been your most memorable interview so far?
We reach out to guests across various industries, as we strive to share the stories and advice of people to teens with varying interests. In finding who we hope to host as a guest, we look for inspiration everywhere; an actor in a movie we’re watching, an athlete that our friends admire, or our favorite author. One of Anastasia’s most memorable interviews is Catherine Martin, the 4 time Oscar-winning producer and designer for movies including Elvis, The Great Gatsby, and Moulin Rouge. Anastasia is the head designer at Small Bits of Happiness, so speaking to such an iconic designer was truly captivating!
For Mercedes, a very memorable interview was with astronaut Ellen Ochoa, who has been to space four times! always been enthralled by space, so this was truly an insightful and exciting conversation. All of our guests have changed the way that we think about leading a fulfilled and well-balanced lifestyle, benefited our mindset, and inspired us.
What’s one piece of advice from a guest that has really stuck with you?
In an interview with Julia Landeaur, NASCAR racer and keynote speaker, she mentioned one of her favorite motivational quotes to be “don’t be the one to tell yourself no.” This quote has stuck with both of us ever since, and is repeated in our household on a daily basis. Plenty of people will tell you “no,” and plenty of opportunities won’t stick. However, if you never put yourself out there, you will never get the opportunity to find a “yes” to your goal.
Your show is aimed at both teens and parents—why do you think it’s important to bridge the generational gap when talking about happiness?
Parents and teens play a pivotal role in one another’s happiness. As teens often grow apart from their family, a large part of Hack Your Happiness’s mission is to connect parents and teens and encourage conversation around happiness, wellness, problem-solving, and following one’s passion. We strive to give parents an insight into the mindset of a teen and to give teens tangible tips for bettering their lifestyle and becoming their best selves.
What’s it like working together as siblings? Do you ever disagree on topics or ideas?
We both hold different perspectives and ideas, allowing us both to ask insightful and interesting questions to our guests. As siblings, we’ve grown far better at openly communicating our thoughts and feelings, so that when we do disagree, we’re able to talk through a challenge and come out with a productive solution.
What advice would you give to other siblings thinking about starting a project together?
Just do it! Don’t be the one to tell yourself no. There is never a right time to start something; we can come up with hundreds of excuses or reasons to wait. Start your project, and be open-minded to its evolution and change.
How do you juggle school, social life, and podcasting?
We are passionate about our podcast and company, but school is also important! As our guests understand that we are teens, we schedule interviews for after-school hours, or on days off from school.
What skills have you learned from running Hack Your Happiness that have helped you in other areas of life?
Thinking on our feet and not being afraid to ask a question have both been key learnings from Hack Your Happiness. As we’ve grown into more experienced interviewers, we’ve both found a greater confidence to ask questions in other areas of life (such as communicating with teachers/staff at school). As public speakers who present at conventions across North America, our podcast has helped our ability to think on our feet and answer questions from the audience. Practice makes perfect, and we are definitely still working on constant improvement.
What are some simple “happiness hacks” you think every teen (and parent!) should know?
Find time to connect with one another! In an interview with psychologist and professor Sonja Lyubomirsky, we learned that one of the top tips for feeling happier is connection. Be it with a family member or friend, find time to connect with people who energize and elevate you. Secondly, a simple happiness hack is to be kind to others. Make it a goal to spread three acts of intentional kindness daily, through means such as sharing a compliment, pouring a sibling some water, or donating old clothing. In our interview with Dr. Kelli Harding, she shared that when we’re kind to others, we feel happier, they feel happier, and the people around us feel happier too.
As a teen yourself, if you could give one piece of advice to parents raising teens today, what would it be?
Go out of your way to spend time and connect with your teenager. Ask them what they would like to do together with you, or propose a few ideas and let them choose an activity. Take interest in their life, asking about how their friends are doing, if they’ve been enjoying their sports team, or recent updates within their hobby. Most of all, make time together a screen-free experience; lead by example and put your phone away.
What’s next for Hack Your Happiness? Any exciting plans or goals for the future?
We are excited to be expanding to increasing amounts of podcast platforms, just recently launching on iHeart Radio podcasts! We also have more guest interviews that we can’t wait to share!
To learn more about Hack Your Happiness, visit their website or their social media platforms.