I'll start with an admission. A year ago, I wasn't sure why I needed to start  Eudēmonia . Creating this event was more like a compulsion—a particularly annoying sub-dermal itch I needed to scratch—than it was the result of some master plan (or even a business plan). Fortunately, research now suggests that there is real communication between the brain and gut, and  decisions based on gut feel often have better outcomes.  So here's to the hope that those studies are correct.

The last 15 years of my career have been spent in an unusual niche: gathering community around a shared passion for health and well-being. With my dear friends Jeff and Schuyler, I co-founded an event series called Wanderlust in 2009. Wanderlust pioneered the concept of the wellness festival, ultimately gathering hundreds of thousands of yogis, meditators, athletes, authors, musicians and health nuts in more than 20 countries. I formally left the company in 2022, but I continue to work with the new team. Wanderlust is still going strong, with an  upcoming event my wife and I are producing in Mexico  and a wonderful line of  plant-powered supplements  taking Australia by storm.

One lesson I learned is the power of gathering community the old fashioned way: IRL. At Wanderlust, that often meant one or more gaze-deeply-into-the-eyes-of-a-stranger workshops, something that always made an introvert like me deeply uncomfortable. But those personal sacrifices aside, the effect of time spent together was unmistakable. People dropped their guard. Cell phones languished with nearly full batteries. Lasting friendships were formed. Healthy habits were reinforced. And somewhere along the way, we rediscovered the essential goodness of humanity: other people are not really so "other" at all.

As I suffered through the long winter of the pandemic, with Wanderlust and in-person community itself in suspension, I had ample time (and cause) to think about health. The hoary phrase "your health is your true wealth" took on real significance. As I processed the tragic stories of alienation and loss, I began to think of good health not just as something we all share or aspire to, but as a basic right.

I believe we have a right to the unobstructed pursuit of good health.

“Unobstructed” is the key word. Framing health as a right implies that, at some point, someone or something might stop you from exercising that right. I avoid conspiracy theories assiduously, but clearly there are many influences on health—particularly in the US—that have shifted us toward more negative outcomes. I won't recount the litany of statistics, because our record obesity rates, the rising incidence of cancer, diabetes and Alzheimers, and declining life expectancy are all well-documented at this point. I'll also leave it to Eudēmonia's doctors and health experts to explore the many triggers for this crisis. But they surely include a mix of counterproductive government policies, behavioral changes, changes in our food composition, corporate profiteering, misinformation and plain old individual apathy.  



Those triggers are not easily changed, but defusing two of them—misinformation and apathy—is within our grasp. Reliable health information comes from trusted, unbiased experts reporting on science-backed research. It flourishes in an environment where open dialogue and different opinions are debated on the merits, not through personal attacks. Science is just a framework for getting at the truth, and it's subject to constant revision—and sometimes complete falsification. With the complexity of our biology, there may be no truth with a capital  T , but we continually get closer as our understanding grows. I’m proud to say that the experts we've gathered at Eudēmonia are the best explainers of biological science that ever have been assembled in one place.


The second trigger of our poor health is apathy. The flip side of that coin is  individual  agency, a value that Eudēmonia was designed to foster. I submit that "doing your own research" is both good and something to be actively encouraged. If some are misled by incorrect information, the solution is more discussion, better information, and more open dialogue —not silence, censorship or apathy. We will see good health outcomes only in a world where people are actively engaged in their own good health, just as we'll see rights protected only in a society where people actively defend them.  So let's support each other, and deepen our knowledge to the limits of what modern science can tell us.



If you’re detecting a whiff of politics, here’s a deeply non-partisan thought: everyone should care deeply about our declining national health. If you lean conservative, you might be troubled by the fact that preventable illnesses are sapping our military strength (one-third of 17–24-year-olds are unfit due to obesity) or worried about our $300+ billion annual productivity loss due to metabolic disorders. If you lean liberal, you might be disturbed that our health crisis disproportionately affects those in poor and minority communities, while many governmental policies designed to ameliorate poverty actually encourage the consumption of unhealthy food. We spend twice as much on healthcare as any other nation, with generally worse outcomes. What we're doing isn't working, and it's up to all of us to become the change we seek.


If you made it this far, thank you. I'll close with a brief word about our admittedly strange name. Eudēmonia (also  eudaimonia  or  eudaemonia ) is a Greek word that dates back a good 2,500 years to the philosopher Aristotle. It refers to a life lived with meaning and purpose, and it is often translated as "human flourishing" or "life well lived." As I've developed this event, I've slowly unearthed its true purpose—and with that, found a few breadcrumbs on a path to my own personal eudemonia. I'll meet you there.

To life well lived,


Sean Hoess 
Founder & CEO