Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Julianna Sweeney On: Finding Your Life’s Mission Through Tragedy EP 22

Episode Date: April 27, 2021

In today's episode of the Passion Struck podcast, John R. Miles interviews singer/songwriter Julianna Sweeney on finding your life's mission through tragedy. New Interviews with the World's GREATEST high achievers will be posted every Tuesday with a Momentum Friday inspirational message! Julianna and John discuss finding that burning desire in our life that gets us motivated in the morning to get up and conquer the world. You'll hear from her about how she found her passion early in life and how that passion became such a provocative aspect, how not only she carries herself, but how she carries on her mom's legacy through her music. How she created a benefit concert to raise money through music to give back to children who are suffering from cancer. How to do something you are truly passionate about, you don't listen to the people in your head, you go for it and don't let them hinder your progress. How she is honoring her mom's legacy through her music and the philanthropic endeavors her mom supported. Her advice to others on overcoming adversity and turning that tragedy into becoming passion struck. Enjoy!! Follow Julianna Sweeney here: Website: https://www.juliannasweeney.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julianna_sweeney/ Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/julianna-sweeney -Follow Passion Struck on Instagram -https://www.instagram.com/passion_struck_podcast -- Combat veteran, multi-industry CEO, and Author John R. Miles is on a mission to make passion go viral by helping growth seekers to overcome their fear, self-doubt, and adversity. He loves taking his own life experiences, lessons from his time as a CEO and Fortune 50 C-Level Executive, and the truths he has learned to help make other's lives better. His new podcast Passion Struck provides inspirational interviews and powerful guidance for people to take their lives to the next level. Watch as these high achievers weigh in on life's biggest questions and challenges as we journey on the path to becoming passion-struck. Follow John R. Miles Here: Website - https://passionstruck.com/​ ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_r_miles ​​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Johnrmiles.c0m​ ​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Milesjohnr​ ​​ Medium: https://medium.com/@JohnRMiles​ ​John's Website: https://johnrmiles.com/​    

It's helped me so much in, you know, formulating my confidence, I guess, in, you know, fake it till you make it. You know, we hear that saying and it's a cliche, but it just rings so true because if you believe it and, you know, you go for it, you're going to make it happen. And, you know, people don't have to know. People probably won't know. And if you really are confident about it, then you will eventually become

what you're pretending to be. Welcome to the Passion Struck Podcast. My name is John Miles, a former combat veteran and multi industry CEO, turned entrepreneur and human performance expert. Each week we showcase an inspirational person or message that helps you unlock your hidden potential and unleash your creativity and leadership abilities.

Thank you for joining us today on the show and let's get igniting. Welcome to the PassionStruck podcast. Hi, I'm John Miles and it's my job to interview I Achievers from All Walks of Life podcast. Hi, I'm John Miles and it's my job to interview eye achievers from all walks of life and to tease out from them their secrets and inspiration help you unlock passion in your own. And today I've got a great guest on the show. But before I go there let me start out with a quote that I found from her website. It's from New York Times bestsellingselling author, Jen Snarrow, and she says, in order to change your life, your faith in miracles and yourself must be greater than your fears.

And isn't that so true? We get so caught up with our fears and obstacles, and we let them get in the way of becoming passion-struck, finding that burning desire in our life that gets us motivated in the morning to get up and conquer the world. And that's exactly what our guest today did, and you'll hear from her about how she found her passion early in life and how that passion became such a provocative aspect of how not only she carries herself, but she carries on for mom's legacy. I want to introduce you today to Julianna Swini, a singer-songwriter and recent college graduate, and I am so excited about this episode and her talking to you about how she took

tragedy and turned it into filling permission in life and bringing so much needed care to children's cancer research through proceeds from her music sales. Now let me tell you a little bit more about Juliana. Juliana, like I said, is a singer and songwriter and she loves cooking, taking spontaneous trips to enjoy nature, as well as different cultures, and she's on a constant search for the world's greatest cappuccino. And I think many of us can relate to that. I know I'm always on a constant search for the perfect cup of coffee myself. She wrote her very first song back when she was six years old and it was like

you probably imagined that an 11-year-old would write at that time. However, it ignited a passion inside of her for music and for that to be the thing that moved her. That song became the defining moment of her life. A moment that she learned through her music, she could be provocative. And this has been her life mission ever since. Her style has been noted to sound like Joni Mitchell, Carol Kaine, and Nora Jones, and you can find her music everywhere music is sold.

Now let's get on with today's show in this special interview with Juliana Swaini. Juliana, I am so thrilled to have you today on the show. Thank you so much for joining us. Absolutely, thank you for having me. As I was reading more and more about you and had a chance last night in this morning to start listening to your new album which will get into and your music. I learned that for you you you really got this passion around music. When you were I think it was six grade and I wanted to go back because I think that's a good starting point. And can you talk a bit about what was happening in your life

then and how you got the songwriting bug that early in your life? Absolutely. So I have been singing and just I've always had a love for music. I think my first solo performance that I had was when I was in kindergarten and I was very fortunate to have music teachers that you know

whatever it was saw something in me and really pushed me to continue on with my music. So it was the summer between 5th and 6th grade. I was about 11 years old and my choir teacher in elementary school had, you know, what's the word? Not requested. They had, you know, said that it would probably be best if I took piano lessons. I'm sorry. Instead of voice lessons and essentially built off of that. So I did my piano lessons for a couple of years. I think I started those when I was seven and around the time that I was 11,

I remember I was sitting in my room and I was listening to Kelly Clarkson, funny enough. And I was like, you know what? Let me just see what I can come up with. So I sat down on the piano and my first song was like six minutes long and had four chords and looking back on it, it was not that great, but it was a very pivotal moment for me because

that was when I really realized that I could do something with my music. Well, that's great. I have two kids. One is actually your age. He's actually might be even a little older than you. He's 22 and I have a daughter who's 17 and we started both of them when they were very young playing piano and I think it has helped. Music has helped both of them so much not only in giving them an outlet for anxiety and other things but I think when you're doing something complex like piano,

it strengthens so many different parts of your brain as you're doing so. Now, they have both since then drifted off to other instruments as well, and we'll get more into that. But I remember when my son was about the same age as you were, we had moved to Austin, Texas, and he decided he wanted to do percussion. And where we lived in Austin, an area called West Lake, they only people that they would

bring into the band because their middle school band was literally 150 or 200 kids big. Me was a big band and they're part of the Westlake high school district and Westlake is known for its music program, but they would only allow you to audition if you play piano first. So he auditioned, had never played drums, and within two years not only had become a great drummer but was in one of the top six or seven shares in the entire state. And there was a mentor, a young man, probably in his late 20s who entered his life and really started showing him the core techniques to learning it. And, you know, I'm rambling here, but where I was going with this is, you know, I think for him having that guide, even at that young and age, was so instrumental, because, you know, it gave him confidence, but also someone who he trusted, who, you know, would get him really on his feedback. and I was wondering, did you experience that at all? Absolutely. So as I was saying, you know, my elementary school

teacher, my music teacher, she was really instrumental in, you know, pushing me to perform more or, you know, getting these piano lessons. And then when I wrote my first song, I took it to her and she would critique me, she would help me bring more songs to life for different tips or tricks. Or she would, I remember, it was like the first week of school and I had just shown her my song

and she's like, you're gonna sing it to the class and I was like what no way crazy no way yeah exactly it's like um songwriting is a very as you said it's an outlet to you know get out emotions or anxieties or a lot of different things and and songwriting is a very vulnerable um entity and to be put on the spot and have to sing you know the song, I think I think the boy that I wrote it about was in the class and that was like a whole other thing, you know, sixth grade drama and but I just learned so much from that experience because it's like the only way to grow is to go out of your comfort zone. And she put me in those positions

where I was very uncomfortable, but it was because of those that I was able to really develop my craft and flourish in the music space. And then throughout high school, I had another teacher who was almost like a continuation of my elementary school teacher. And then in college obviously I went to school for music and you know I had a couple mentors there who really continued to push me and I owe a lot to them. That's great. I always like to ask this question of Jen's ears because usually the answer is different than my generation.

So as you were growing up, did you find it more difficult from, you know, kind of that social aspect of, you know, trying to find yourself more in middle school or in high school? Oh, that's an interesting question. I'd say middle school is a very tough time for me because I didn't really fit in with anyone. I kind of already knew what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to play a music and I wanted to pursue that. And that's not, I realized I was lucky to have known that and I'm lucky to have known that at such a young age,

but also being that age and knowing what you want to do, but then having everyone around you not know and like really focus on, you know, drama or all this other stuff. I just, by no means it was, I perfect, but I also saw through a lot of that. And I was like, well, I just want to focus on this. And because of that, I didn't really fit in, which I had a really rough time with that. And I remember that was middle school was a time where I really grew close to my mom,

and she really helped me, along with my teachers to really push through all that, and really focus on what I wanted to do. So I would say middle school definitely was the initial you know understanding the whole finding yourself, but then high school was when I really developed if that makes any sense. Okay, and for my two kids and many of the parents I talked to now, it's the same thing because in my generation,

we were growing up, I thought that that huge transition, and I also grew up in pro-kio school, so I was a bit more protected probably, but it really happened when I went into high school. And that's when the clicks started to merge, or emerge, et cetera. What I've experienced kind of with these new generations that are coming up and I think social media

has something to play a role in it is all of a sudden you're in fifth, sixth, seventh grade and there's all this pure pressure, there are clicks and there's this pressure on you to conform to one of those things. And I know for both of my kids, they struggled through that period a bit. And, you know, I think it was a growing experience for both of them. And now they've gotten into high school and both are flourishing. But I remember when my daughter was going through it,

it was very difficult on her because she didn't really fit into any one of the boxes. And I remember somewhere between seventh and eighth grade, she kind of just made a decision, which I thought was very admirable, that I don't care what anyone else thinks about me. I like me. And I know who I am know, I don't care what anyone else thinks about me. I like me. And, you know, I know who I am and I don't have to have a group of friends.

All I really need are one or two people who I'm close to, you know, who can carry me forward. And, you know, I think those couple of relationships for her have, you know, continued to this day, even though they now all go to different high schools. So I just bring it up because I think times are changing and for the listeners who are out there, you know, who are now might be having to deal with this in their own life. I think it's just a different perspective to put out there. Absolutely. And I really love what your daughter kind of came to a realization about and understanding,

you know, you don't need to be friends with everyone, you don't need, you know, you don't need anyone else's approval except yourself. And, you know, middle school, I think it was the end of middle school. I found my best friend and we're still best friends this day. She now lives down in Georgia. I'm still up in New Jersey. And, you know, it's really, if you focus your energy into building real deep, you know, valuable relationships, it's gonna value you in the long run. So that's very apprable. Well, I will definitely pass that on to her next time I see her.

I've sent some of your files to her already to listen. She loves hearing new music and she, you might think that it's my son who I hit all the concerts with, but it's actually my daughter who is the huge music fan and wants to do almost any genre you can think of and is passionate about all of them. But I wanted to get into kind of a transition point now for you starting to encounter, you know, some fear obstacles and big life moments along the way. And I wasn't much older than you when I lost a fiance. Well, I should say my only fiance when I lost a fiance, well, I should say, my only fiance at that point to the cancer. And she had a very rare form and passed away when she was about your age, maybe a year older.

And her is similar to what I think happened with your mom. It was a fairly long battle with it. I think it was three to four years. I think your mom was longer, but going through that, I can relate to some of the things that you went through, but can you talk to the audience about it sounds like your mom was a huge figure like many moms are in our lives? Can you talk about that and some of the obstacles that that caused and you know what that brought about in your life. Absolutely. So when I was in sixth grade I

believe it is. Yeah, I believe I was in sixth grade when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer and it wasn't any it was stage one so it wasn't terrible at that time. But I can still vividly remember when her and my dad were in the kitchen and they brought us down to tell us. And when you're a little kid, you can't differentiate between cancer and death. It's just one leads to the other. You don't understand the nuances or the subtleties

or the stages, any of that kind of stuff. So that was very scary moment when they first told us and she battled with that for probably about a year and a half to two years. And then she was set, like the doctors said, that she went into remission. And throughout that time, you know, she was just so helpful for me. And, you know, I had mentioned earlier, I was going through a rough time in middle school. And I think that obviously some of that had to do with what was going on at home, but she also put aside

what she was feeling to take care of her kids first and does something that I always admired was that, you know, she would just drop anything. She was doing it, didn't matter. Her kids came first and that also kind of bled into her youth group kids as well. So she was the leader at MITurch's youth group and she just grew a bond with everyone and you know she grew the youth group by the time I was a senior in high school which is when it came back you know there were over a hundred kids in youth group and she just had such an impact on the kids because she could relate and, you know, she was just a natural born mom and every sense of the word. But. Yeah, it sounds like she was amazing.

So when I was a senior in high school, it was the beginning of of the year. It was in October. She started getting these headaches and, you know, at first they weren't that bad and then, you know, we got there a week, they just got worse and, you know, at first they weren't that bad and then, you know, we got there a week, they just got worse and I'm sorry, September. So the whole month of September, she was going through these these headaches and, you know, we just felt so bad because sometimes she would be in bed and she couldn't get up because of these headaches. And she had gone to the doctor a couple times throughout that month, but they kept saying, oh, take this or try this.

They never thought that it could have been something worse. And then, you know, toward the end of the month, we actually had a youth group event the night that, or the night before, everything went down. But she ended up having to stay home because of the headache. And then she went to the doctor, and they were like, you need to go to the emergency room. So it took her over to the headache. And then she went to the doctor and they were like, you need to go to the emergency room. So it took her over to the hospital and they took her to get a scan and they found that her cancer

had metastasized to her brain. Yeah. So right away she had to be transferred to another hospital and they did the surgery the next morning. And at this point, you know, nobody really had heard of metastasized cancer. We didn't know what it meant. She was supposed to be in remission. She had been going to the doctor for, you know, since I was in middle school to the end of high school. So about four years and they kept doing tests and everything was looking fine. So nobody understood what was going on and we didn't realize that you know once it metastasized like there's not really a chance of survival especially when it goes to the brain and you know she throughout this whole thing you know

through surgeries through treatments you, because of the surgery, the nature of the surgery that they had to do on her brain, you know, there was a matter that was taken out that, you know, she was a little bit disabled throughout the next few months of her life. And, you know, it was difficult to see her like that because she's such an independent, you know, strong person. And she couldn't do things for herself, let alone other people. And that was like her whole life, but she loved doing stuff for other people. She loved helping other people. And it was a really hard time.

We're very blessed to have a large close family. My mom was actually born in Portugal and We we keep our roots very strong and our traditions and just like a strong family in a strong faith and That was really what got us through and what still continues to get us through so it wasn't easy obviously, but you know Just miracle after miracle. You miracle, she made it through surgeries. She made it way past her expected time to live. She made it toward the end of her life when she was in the hospital and the ICU, they had her intubated. When they took the tube out, they were expecting her to pass away right away and she ended up

you know, lasting another four or five days and you know, she just was so strong-willed she knew she wanted to come home and so we were able to bring her home. So that was something beautiful that came out of it that we were all able to be there with her. But yeah, to anyone who is going through anything, anything even slightly similar, you know, just keep your faith in whatever it is, whatever it is that you believe because, you know, it's that and the relationships of the people around you that will get you through anything. Did you know that Forbes magazine recently cited that 70% of individuals who do personal development masterminds

and one-on-one coaching benefited from better work performance, increased communication skills, and overall better relationships. And we, at PassionStruck, are obsessed with self-development, coaching, and mentorship. That is why we've created a free resource to help you unlock your hidden potential. Because people doing great things in business and life are just like you, only they've had a coach along the way. And we've got that cover too. Let us show you the systems and frameworks that we teach for both minded individuals to help them step into their sharp edges,

execute on their passion journeys and get predictable results time and time again. Go to passionstruck.com slash coaching right now and let's get igniting. Yeah, thank you for sharing. I know it's not easy having to share something like that and, you know, I'll just make a couple comments here before I go into the next question. And, you know, and one is I have, I've never had cancer. So, you know, my experience is not firsthand. But I do realize that as you go from state one to other stages, and especially as it's, if it's metastasized, the state that it has with her, the treatment options have to evolve greatly

because you're having to treat it systemically instead of at the point of origin, which is very difficult once it reaches that point. I unfortunately haven't going through this more recently because I told you before the show started, my sister was diagnosed in September with unfortunately pancreatic cancer. And so that has, again, brought back to our family, this cancer threat, which my aunt,

my grandmother, and others have had to go through. But we have been doing a ton of research, and if anyone who's listening this would like to learn more, I'd be happy to share some of it with you. But we went to the Pancan organization in our case, and they've been an invaluable source. I've also tried to track down other pancreatic cancer survivors to hear their stories and learn about that. But we also discovered the power of the mind through this and how it plays such a strong role

in that person's fight to overcome this terrible disease. And we also discovered that there's more and more knowledge coming out about plenty of Hathac things that you can do that complement the things that the MDs will tell you. And we found pharmacologists here in Clearwater, Florida, who is actually, her real job is the pharmacologist at one of our major hospitals. But in addition to that, she also studied Eastern medicine and has been treating literally families and subpatients who have cancer.

And, you know, I have a very personal story because my girlfriends mother, a decade ago, came to her with incurable stage four ovarian cancer, stage four B, which is a death sentence. And they said it couldn't be operated on nothing. And she went to this lady who gave her these drops that her mom takes to this day and 10 years later she's cancer for thank God. So I think, you know, between that, eating, getting sugar out of your system, you know, putting your body in an alkaline state. There are a number of things that you can do to help yourself along with the medicines that you get. So I will leave it at that, and if you want to know more, you can contact me.

But what I wanted to ask you is, as you were going through this time, how did music play a role? Was it for you something that you used that connected you more with your mom was it's something you used at times to get away from what was going on and you know you could pour your yourself into something else because I want to I want to go from here and this answer to then go into you know the music that you're doing today and and kind of an inspiration but if you can answer that first, I think that would be a great starting point. Absolutely. So it was definitely, you know,

away from me to get away, 100%, especially with the writing aspect of, you know, my music, but it was also a way to get closer to her when it came to listening to other music. So, you know, we would always share songs and you know, we put together playlists, so whenever, you know, she heard a song or I heard a song, it kind of connected us in that way. And, you know, during my senior year of high school, my music teacher at the time going along with you know helping me to push out my comfort zone and to evolve and progress with my music. He you know made it a point to be like okay we're gonna put together a senior capstone project and then he kind of took me through the steps. He's like what do you want to do? How do you want to go about it? Whatever you need

through the steps, he's like, what do you want to do? How do you want to go about it? Whatever you need, I'm there. So what we decided to do and what we decided to come up with was put together a benefit concert. Yeah, and it actually went on for three years and then got canceled last year to COVID. And now we haven't been able to continue it, unfortunately, but my senior year of high school,

we actually got a new high school. Our old high school was so old, and we were taking classes and trailers. And so that senior year, this new high school, it had state of the art auditorium and lighting and sound and everything. So I was like, let's put together a concert. It'll be 100% student run.

Everyone will get experience on what it's like to do, you know, a concert in the rock pop, you know, mainstream kind of way. And I had lined it and we got three other students to open to open the concert. And we raised money for actually a little boy in our community. He had brain cancer and we raised money for him. So it was a way to really bring the community together around this central, you know, this central thing of music and give back to someone else in need. And the way that that whole thing ties into my mom is because when I realized that she couldn't continue her mission

in her life to give back to other people, you know, I kind of took it upon myself to make that my own mission. And, you know, using my music to give back to others was the most, the thing that made the most sense to me was using something that I was, you know, passion, divatter that I knew the most about and to, you know, help others through that. So that's where that all began. And the cause itself to give back to this little boy with Frank Cancer came from my mom's relationship with children or with kids, you know, like going back to that whole motherly instinct and whenever she was sick, whether it was, you know, when she was, when I was in middle school that first time she got sick or the second time, you know,

whenever, remember, they're my sister and I would, you know, discuss or show how sad we were at the situation or upset or frustrated, she would always be like, all right guys, I get where you're coming from, but you know there are kids, there's little kids out there that have to go through the same thing or worse. And so I kind of continued to bring that spirit with me and that's childhood cancer research is the cause that my album is supporting. So. And you're new album and you ended up just releasing it a couple weeks ago. I think it was, I think I have the date right because it's, I think it's January 27th. My daughter's birthday is 28th and that happened to be, I have some significance with your mom.

Can you talk about that? Yes, I decided to release the album on my mom's birthday, just because she had such an impact on my life and the whole mission that I decided to go with in my life. So that's what I'm talking about. And so the title of the album is Exit 4, I think. And can you talk a little bit about what that title means? Absolutely. And can you talk a little bit about what that title means and its significance? So exit 4 is the exit that I take to get home in New Jersey, but it's also the exit that I took to get up to college in New York. And essentially the album goes through, you know, I won't say

coming of age, it's more of a journey, you know, and just realizing overcoming and growing. And that's the whole premise of the album itself. And I think there's something to be said about a journey that begins and ends symbolically in the same fashion. And then the brackets around the U give the title a second meaning in that, you know, sometimes you have to take the exit for you. So not everyone thinks, not everyone, you know, is bold enough to take that exit or to go in that direction that they feel they need to.

And it's not an easy thing to do, but it is one of the most rewarding things you could possibly do. So I'm going to stay here for a little bit because the real purpose of this show is to help the listeners understand how to do exactly what you just said. And that is, you know, how do you get over the fears you might have, how do you get over the fears you might have, the obstacles that you see that are in front of you, and start your passion journey and release that potential that we all have. So I wanted to dig a little bit deeper, and for you, what was that journey like? And what started it, this dream of making this album, and what were some of the fears you had to overcome and how did you overcome them? Absolutely. So ever since I wrote that first song in middle school, I just had this dream, this vision, to create an album, to release it, to

do something with the music and make it proactive. So my mom was an artist. That's what she went to college for. She wasn't really able to do much with it just because of the nature of her situation. And, you know, she ended up doing some other job. She was a stay-at-home mom. And she knew what it was like to go into an art field and how difficult it is.

And her and my dad saw the passion that I had with the music and I was very fortunate to have parents who really pushed me and believed in me. And they said it from the beginning, they're like, if you wanna pursue this, it's not going to be easy. And you're going to have to, you know, work your butt off to do something with it. That's something that really got ingrained in my head

over the years. So if you want to do something, you can do it. You just have to really believe in it and not let other people get in your head. Your value comes from you and that is probably one of the most important lessons that I have had to learn in order to get to this point. Yes, I think that's great and you know, I'm not sure if you experienced this, but with the many of the people I work with, they have what I would describe as hidden beliefs about themselves that are just festering there, that they have at times a hard time getting

over, you know, they don't think they're good enough or they don't think they're educated enough or, you know, it's hard, you know, it's kind of like being an interior designer where some can walk into a house that looks like a disaster area and can see it so clearly, but others struggle to see what that M-product looks like. What would you say to the listeners about those in beliefs and how to tackle them? So when I was in high school, I got probably one of the best pieces of advice I've ever gotten. And it directly relates to music, but generally relates to everything else.

So my music teacher in high school, I had been recording music on the side, but obviously I didn't know anything about recording at that point. And, you know, I was a beginner songwriter. I didn't really know, again, anything in the industry. And I also put it in my head that I was a perfectionist. And that was one of my like hidden beliefs.

It's like, I'm a perfectionist. I'm not gonna put anything out until it's perfect. And he was like, put your music out there because people are going to listen to it and they don't think the same way as you. And, you know, again, directly relates to music, put your music out there. But indirectly, it's helped me so much in, you know, formulating my confidence, I guess, in, you know, fake it till you make it.

You know, we hear that saying and it's a cliche, but it just rings so true because if you believe it and, you know, you go for it, you're gonna make it happen. And, you know, people don't have to know. People probably won't know. And if you really are confident about it, then you will eventually become what you're pretending to be, if that makes any sense.

Well, I think that's that's some great advice. Fake it to you make it, you know, because I think it is so important to have confidence in what you're doing because people can see through it when you're not confident, when you don't present that I think confidence and passion have some similarities because when you're passionate about something, that confidence just, you know, it pours out of every ounce of your body and ignites your soul and ignites what you're going to do. So I wanted to ask, do you think having been through this adversity, it's possible to have success with without adversity or do you think you have to go through that journey to

get the success that you want to achieve? I think life is adversity and I think that everyone goes through their own level of adversity and because of that we are able to find resilience. Now, again, depending, it's very relative. Like, what is the adversity level? You know, like, we both have been through really high adversity levels. Some people, you know, have an experience that yet, or you know, if they're really lucky, they won't have to experience that in their lifetime. But I think, you know, it is possible without it if you're, if you can empathize and understand and be really grateful for what you do have. And I think that that's important regardless.

But I think the adversity, although it can make or break you, can really build you up and, you know, make you passion struck. Well, that's great. Well, thank you for that plug. Absolutely. I do think it's, you know, I do think it's true. I mean, they're very few people I have ever met, even, you know, the people that we hold up, whether they're sports stars or billionaires or creatives like you are, all of them have gone through major adversities. In fact, most painters that I know from that artistic, or almost our destitute at times before they've been

able to break through. It's not, you know, being a creative, being a visionary, being an entrepreneur, whatever it is, because the thing about being an artist I learned being on the board of art society is, you know, artists, the signs their artwork are entrepreneurs because they have to run their business and sell their goods. So, you know, it really is that and it comes with a ton of trials and tribulations. So, yes, it's all on the path to becoming passion struck. So, I did want to ask, and I always like to ask this of the guests of the show, is, you know, you're still in many ways at the beginning of your journey, but by going through this

and releasing this album and following this mission that you have, what is the aftermath been like for you? How has your life changed by doing this? Great question. So, I recently graduated college a semester early, and so the last month has been just so much change and so much you know activity going on and it's definitely been a whirlwind and a very bitter sweet whirlwind. I definitely feel relieved in a lot of ways that you know a lot of this work is out of the way, but I also,

you know, I kind of long for it again. I'm already looking forward to recording the next album or the next single, whatever is next. And, you know, I couldn't be more excited to make the final donation to a CHOP research institute. So children's hospital, Philadelphia. My goal was $300 and we raised over $700, which is great. Yeah, so I think the past couple of months have really taught me to really take in every moment and realize how far I've come so far. And by that same token, understand that it's just the beginning of, you know, what, the potential that I have

and, you know, thinking about, well, what's that? So that's where I feel I'm at right now. Well, that's great. And I, and congratulations on the success you've had thus far. And, you know, I think what you just said, which is celebrate the little successes along the way, is important regardless of, you know, where you are in your, your passion or life journey. Yeah, you know, in fact, yesterday, I was conversing with my coach,

who's helping me with these podcasts and you know I launch on Tuesday. I think you're actually interviewing number 22 or 23. We've already done, but you know he he sent me you know you're now live on iTunes, your live on podcast, being et cetera. You know he gives time to celebrate that you know the moment and the victory and you've had a milestone. So I appreciate what you said. And I did want to ask you for those who want to learn more about your music and you, where can they go if they want to purchase your album and hear more of your music? your album and hear more of your music. Yeah, so my music is on all major music platforms.

So Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon, wherever you get your music. I think there's a link floating around on YouTube as well. And you can also find out more about my story. And, you know, I put out a bi-weekly newsletter. So if you're interested in, you interested in music, and it's kind of a lifestyle newsletter where I include recipes and book recommendations and where I'm at in the moment. So you can come on the journey with me.

JulianaSweeney.com is where you can find all that information. But yeah. Okay, well great. And I have one more part of the interview and it won't take long, but it's a little bit of a lightening around. So I am going to start and just answer with whatever comes to your mind.

And I'll start you out with an easy one. What is the first concert you've ever wanted to? I think it was the Jonas Brothers. Okay. And if you could go to a concert now, and you can only pick one artist, who would it be? I've already seen him twice, but I'd probably say John Mayer.

It's the best concert that I've seen. Yeah, I've always wanted to see John, but I haven't had the opportunity. I do. You have to. It's amazing. Yeah, he's an excellent guitarist. If you could meet anyone alive or dead

that you haven't met yet, who would it be? Probably Gene Kelly. I know he's very old-fashioned, but my dad was very old-fashioned. We used to watch all the movies. Okay. And if you were gonna blast off to space tomorrow and they gave you one last meal you could have

the night before before you went up, what would it be? A Portuguese dish called Cron porca l'Agena. And it's, you know, pork clams shrimp. And then it served with some french rides. So good. It sounds delicious. OK, and I'll ask you, if you ask, I'll ask you one more question. If you were giving advice to my 17-year-old daughter about where she

should take her love of music, what would you tell her as some advice from someone who's where you're at now? If it's something you love and you're serious about it, lean into it. Just just go all out, go for it and you'll find your way. Well, that's great. And I think that's a great place to end our interview today. And Juliana, thank you so much for being on the Passion Struck podcast. Really appreciate it. Your time with me today.

Absolutely. Thank you for having me. This was an awesome opportunity, and I really appreciate it. I was so excited to have Juliana Swini on the show. And to give you such a mix of different guests that we can bring that offer their perspectives. Regardless of age, regardless of background, we can learn from all of them. And in the upcoming weeks, we have some very special guests coming on.

In our next episode, I have famed Welch philosopher and knowledge expert Dave Snowden on the show, where he is going to discuss how to use knowledge and complexity science to unlock your personal life. We're going to talk about why he was hired to do research on the origins of coded and the progress he's making there. And then the week following that I have on my personal friend who I've known for 25 plus years, Navy SEAL, and astronaut, Preskacity. You are not going to want to miss either of these episodes coming up.

And along the way, I'll have some great personal episodes as well. We're going to be unpacking topics such as living and ball life and also going over the IV method and how you can apply it to your life as well. As always, I so much appreciate your support for the show and thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you so much for joining us. The purpose of our show is to make Passion Go viral. And we do that by sharing with you the knowledge and skills that you need to unlock your hidden potential.

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And remember, make a choice, work hard, and step into your sharp edges. Thank you again for joining us. you