Meet Kevin Szawala

There’s a lot of opinions out there, but not every one matters. What matters is what you tell yourself, and knowing that you are the person you will talk to the most during your lifetime, we need to make sure it’s positive thoughts and uplifting beliefs. I tell this same thing to all the youth I speak to during my school assemblies focused on bullying prevention and suicide awareness because self-doubt, especially the kind coming from other people’s hatred can really take a toll on our mental psyche. Of course having a strong online presence, I’m bombarded almost daily from people who drink the “Hatorade” as I call it, but I’m very good at blocking them or just deleting their negative comments. They’re expecting you to fight back and that’s what they want, but I choose to do the opposite in hopes that a different response from what they’re usually used to could eventually change their hearts. I always say that “Hurt People Hurt People”, but “Healed People Heal People”, and figuring that those spewing toxicity are probably going through something or in pain, I choose to take an approach of love. From that standpoint, that’s when one regains their power back and can diffuse those stressful situations. I never take things personally because I know it’s their own issues of self-hate or non-love and I try to instill that in all the lives I get to interact with through my heart-focused programming. Rise above the hate, show them peace and just maybe you’ll help this person see the joy that they are lacking.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My name is Kevin Szawala, or “Mr. Peace”, and I’m a National Youth Speaker from Metro Detroit who specializes in bullying prevention, character education, diversity and inclusion and suicide awareness.  Following the wide-reaching effects from the pandemic and virtual learning on the mental health of our youth, I believe transformational, heart-focused programs like the K-12 motivational assemblies I offer are needed now more than ever, especially to aid their overall well-being and why I feel the work I’m doing is so important.

I provide various K-12 Topics for students, a “Cyberbullying and Social Media” Parent Program and a Staff Empowerment (Teacher Enrichment) Workshop, and since 2006 I’ve spoken to over 1,000,000 people in 1,000+ schools in 20 states.  Each presentation is high energy, interactive, customizable and includes age appropriate content and engaging multimedia. Through my nonprofit “Mr. Peace, Inc.” 501(c)(3) , I’m able to make inroads into changing an entire culture by being able to return year after and reach everyone a part of the community.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Perseverance, Persistence and Peace.

Perseverance because I’ve been told “No” so many times, but I really don’t let it affect me. The opposite of success, unlike what many people think, is not failure, it’s quitting, or giving up. But I’ve always refused to do that and so I live by a mantra that S = SW^3, meaning Success = Some Will, Some Won’t, So What…NEXT! Some of us will get that booking the first time we try, some of us won’t, so what, next! Some of us will get the first job we apply to or make it into the top school of our choice or land the big promotion, but some of us won’t, so what, next! You just keep moving, keep going and never, ever give up!