Tracee Persiko is Passionately Pursuing “The Real You”

This summer I interviewed fellow blogger, gifted counselor, goofy speaker extraordinaire Tracee Persiko.  She’s someone I find interesting and someone I thought you’d enjoy meeting…

 

What exactly do you do?

I am currently working in private practice as an Adolescent and Family counselor. I love people. I love meeting with people to talk about life. I meet with clients who are struggling with any areas consisting of boundaries, divorce, grief, relational issues, identity, life questions, career counseling, leadership training, and just helping people become unstuck in their current life situations. 
 
How did you get into that?

It is hard to say how I entered into that field. I would say that counseling has always been in me. I seemed to always be the one people confided in or sought out when life got tough. I have always been in awe that even in all hours of the night people would knock on my door to talk. I loved that. I love it still. I think it is so valuable to have people to talk to and bounce ideas off of. We all struggle at one point or another in life; I find it so hopeful to have someone to walk with you. I am grateful to have opportunities to do just that.
 
When you and I were assigned to “prayer at the rail,” we had no takers, so we prayed for each other. You asked for prayer for an upcoming high school girl’s retreat for which you were the featured speaker. What was the gist of your talks for that retreat and why?

Aside from counseling, my favorite love is public speaking. I had the privilege of speaking at a girls youth conference through The Falls Church called “The Real You.” At this conference I spoke to both middle school and high school girls about their identity in Christ. The world around us is constantly, as well as aggressively, trying to define for us who we are. I was speaking about how our identity in Christ never changes. We are His beloved. We are enough. We are loved. That never changes. What we do and what our gifts are looks different for how our lives look, but our identity never changes in Him.

Too often we ask the question of what do you do? Where are you from? Where did you go to school? These questions seem to define who we are in this world. These questions have no bearing on our identity. We have Facebook and other outlets to describe the “about us” of our personalities and preferences, but our identity remains in who God has created us to be.

These are the kind of topics I have discussed for the past two years with high school age kids. I have loved it. I hope for more opportunities to speak with different crowds. 
 
What was one of the most hilarious moments for you in front of a group of teens?

I enjoy acting the fool upfront. For some reason I was born without the embarrassment gene. When playing the game Truth or Dare, I would always choose the dare. One of the most fun moments was having a dance off contest with my close friend. We had such a blast trying to strut our stuff as if we were on MTV at that moment. I will probably never be a back up dancer for anyone but my friends, but it was so fun!

If there were three things you’d like to accomplish before you leave this great earth, what would they be and why?

Wow! This is a great question. What would I want my legacy to be?

The first would have to be trying my best, on as many stages as I could, to speak about how to follow after Jesus in a world that does not look so different then when He was walking around in it 2000 years ago.

Second, I want to live a life where people say, “She is crazy!” I mean that not in just a way that I do crazy things, but how radically I believe in Jesus and follow after him. I would love to be contagious in a way that invites people into a relationship with Jesus that was not known to be possible. I want to be described as a woman after His own heart. The other crazy filters into my number three…

Lastly, would be to accomplish and check off those things on my “bucket list.” I have checked off the first two, which was swimming with Great White sharks in South Africa and skydiving. I would have to say that both were equally exhilarating. My next item on the list is to bungee jump in New Zealand. There is a site called Nevis that holds the second highest platform in the world. Sign me up!

What is your blog about and what’s your favorite blog post?  (Tracee’s blog “Come and See” is found at www.traceepersiko.wordpress.com)

My blog is about my heart and the things in life I wrestle with. I love to encourage discussion, so I try to include a question at the end of each post. My blog is just about life and how to deal with the struggles of every season.

My favorite post would have to be one called “To Be Known.” In the post I talk about what it looks like and means to be known by others as well as being known by God. It is my life long pursuit to know what intimacy with God really looks and feels like. I think we struggle with being known. I think we lack freedom and trust to let ourselves be fully known by another, which translates into how far we will let God know us.

I am all about asking hard questions for myself as well as just putting them out there. I love people and knowing the heart. I love doing life with people. I hope to have the ongoing opportunity to talk about life with many.

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