We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joey Swizek. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joey below.
Joey, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?
One thing I’ve learned from this job I have is to recognize and really “BE” where you are. So many times in life we spend countless years thinking I should be further in life or this isn’t where I wanted to be right now- instead of embracing where we are, and putting everything we have into it. I really try to find/ put meaning behind everything I do in life. For instance, I am a dance instructor at Miss Sues Dance Co., I’ve been there for 8 years now and at the beginning of taking this job I thought it would be a stepping stone- just an ” in the meantime” thing. But after 8 years of working with 100’s of kids from 2-18 years old I’ve found that everyday with them is such a gift. An opportunity to poor life, encouragement, and strength into these kids. Ive seen kids from all walks of life, and if I know anything, I understand you may think you know something about someones life, but what you see as an outsider is just a fraction of what you know about someone. My point being you have no idea what’s going on in anyones life. So while I love to dance, teaching dance for me isn’t the main focus, its the few moments I get to spend with these precious kids everyday- not even knowing how long I will know them for but hoping to bring light to their life.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am Joey Swizek, im 27 and I am a dancer of 20+ years, have been an instructor for 8 years. I am also a staff member with my husband at my local church, “Faith World Church”. I grew up in a pastors home, and some families are the soccer family, or the football family- we were the church family. That is what I knew growing up, and I’m so grateful for it because even when I didn’t feel like going to church, I still had to go- and that planted so many good things in me as such a young age. Morals and strength that have carried me through good times and bad! I married into a pastors family, and now work for their church as an administrator and social media director. I always knew I’d be in ministry, but didn’t really know specifically what that would look like. I have now spoken at numerous church conventions, and women conferences which is such a huge honor. During covid I had the privilege to aid our church in giving away over 4.8 tons of food to the community, and surrounding cities. That’s what I love about getting to do what I do is there’s not just “one hat”, there’s numerous amounts of ways to help people, and share Jesus! I feel extremely blessed to do what I do.
As far as dance instructing, I started dancing when I 5 years old, but my mom put me in ballet and I was far too energetic for that, so I hopped around to some other sports. Fast forward 5 years later, I found hip hop and fell in love with it! All my friends were dancers, and had been dancing since 3, so I felt completely behind and knew I had to work 10x harder than everyone else to play catch up. So I did! I took every class I could whether it be for my age or not, whether the level was below me or not. My weekly hours at the studio by the time I was 16 was almost 24 hours a week- I was determined to be great, no matter the cost! When I was 16, I Was asked to go on a missions trip to Uganda to teach hip hop at one of the orphanages there. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life, but its safe to say they taught me more than I taught them! Dance has offered me so many cool opportunities including being the choreographer on set of music videos, choreographing Christmas productions viewed by hundreds of people, and performing for the Harlem Globetrotters. Now I teach primarily hip hop at my studio, I am a competitive teacher as well, and my teams have won multiple national champion titles in the past couple years!
I think what sets me apart from others is not really anything to do with me, but God in me. I could literally achieve nothing without his help, and his grace. I believe He created me with these specific gifts and talents, quirks and abilities to fulfill the plans He had for me since before I was born! I don’t think life is worth just living for yourself, that’s so minuscule. How much greater would it be to live your life with other people in mind- that’s what Jesus did for us!
Like I said, one of my biggest focuses in life is to bring meaning to everything I do. Even in social media- I don’t have a million followers but as much as I can, I try to bring encouragement and light to the people around me! Thats why I always tell people you are an influencer! I believe everyone is an influencer in their life, you don’t have to have 10 million people following you to be important. You are important in everything you do! Whether you’re a mom, a janitor, or the CEO- you are significant.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Lesson: “Being bold is always the answer” I have a super bold personality, I’m not afraid to speak my mind, im not afraid of confrontation. Growing up I never thought twice about being bold with anything and everything, but now that I am older I have found that “mercy will always serve you”. I love that quote, I have no idea who said it but It has really helped me. As someone who has to be right 99% of the time, this quote has helped me because giving mercy to others is not only kind to the person you’re giving it to, but it will always serve you best, regardless of the situation. God showed us mercy when we didn’t deserve one ounce of it, so who are we to not do the same. Everyone needs mercy, we’re all human, we all make mistakes.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
In everything I do, I want to make it known that inviting God into your life is the best decision you’ll ever make. Life begins at that “yes”. There’s a story in the Bible, where a shepherd has 100 sheep and 1 goes missing. The shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to go and rescue that one sheep. This shows how personal God’s love is for each person on the planet. God loves each one of us, even more than we can comprehend. If someone loved you THAT much, wouldn’t you want to know?
Contact Info:
- Instagram: itsjoeyswizek
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC__fHRlngO7spoSVE70PDNA