We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful DeShawn Hendrickson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with DeShawn below.

Alright, DeShawn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I’m in the music production and Live Event support space. And one of the biggest trends that I’ve seen in my industry, and specifically in my region of the Boston / New England area is the disconnect between the service that an artist can receive from the creative part of the music making process (aka the studio) to the live performance side of things. In my many studio sessions, I continually hear about nightmare scenarios that artist have when doing live performances. The main complaint is usually about the poor tech support or lack of attention  that they receive at their gig or shows.

 This led me to expand my company’s offering by adding a live event support division to our catalog of services. And this has been a major upside for us. In addition to producing music, I also have a very extensive background and experience in live event production, which makes this added component a seamless integration. It has widen my relationship with existing artists, making our services a one stop shop for a lot of artist. I also have a very flexible network of individuals that are on my team that allows for us to be very consistent regardless of the artist / client that we are working with.

Being successful in my business first and foremost involves executing the client’s vision at a consistently high level. It involves treating everyone with the highest level of respect. It include doing unto others and treating them as you’d want to be treated. And it means being able to adapt and evolve with the times as your client needs change.

DeShawn, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was born and raised on the island of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands and I had a very family oriented upbringing. My mom is the community mom that takes care of everyone, and my dad, who to this day is  my biggest inspiration on multiple levels,  is a dope father, a family man, a respected member of the community and an amazing musician. All of those traits and characteristics flowed through to me, and I’m grateful because it shaped me to be who I am today. I have a gorgeous wife and 2 beautiful daughters, and my upbringing is important in how I raise my family.

Upon graduating from Charlotte Amalie High School (CHICKEN HAWK MASSIVE – internal joke unless you are from the Virgin Islands) in St. Thomas in 2001, I went on to study and obtain a dual degree in Music Productions & Engineering and Music Business/Management at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA in 2005. I worked retail at Guitar Center after that for a few years while networking and collaborating with other music producers and songwriters. I also launched my official business entity at the time, D’NAJE Entertainment, as I understood the importance of owning a separate business entity for business from a liability stand point. My consistent networking eventually led to me getting my first taste of working with a major label recording artist, in 2010, when I coproduced the song ‘Sometimes’ on R&B singer Keyshia Cole’s album entitled ‘Calling All Hearts’. That experience helped me to get into bigger rooms to collaborate with other artist, which I still do to this day. Around the same time of my first major release, a friend of mine introduced me to the professional Audio Visual industry based on my experience as a live sound engineer in the Boston church circuit. This introduction opened my eyes up to a world that I couldn’t have imagined, and it took me to places that I probably wouldn’t have gone otherwise.  

At first, I tried to keep my profession as a music producer separate from my profession in the live events world. But over time, I realized that keeping them separate wasn’t bringing any value to my overall brand, so I leaned into it, expanded my business, which at the time only focused on music production, and added a live event support division to my business (D’NAJE Live Event Solutions). This is when everything clicked, as I began to provide live event support to the same artists that I would produce in the studio, and vice versa. This took all of my client relationships to another level, as they all needed services on both sides.

 One of the biggest things that I’m thankful for is the network of clients who become friends over the years. I truly appreciate their continued trust in myself and my team’s ability to provide high level support regardless of the task. We are working with new clients consistently because of the reputation that we’ve established in keeping the client’s needs first and doing clean business. This has led to requests that we wouldn’t typically support. However, I realized that client trusts me to simply deliver regardless of the type of service, so I launched my content creation division (D’NAJE Vizon) to cater to all of the request to assist with social media content creation production. My team and I also leaned heavily into the live streaming production space, which has been the biggest add on to our business. Live streaming services falls under our D’NAJE Live Events Solutions division.

Now, I think about how different things could have been if I didn’t adapt and fully leaned into combining all of our services together. But I’m grateful that I’ve been blessed with vision to see big picture in everything. And I think, that is one of my biggest strengths.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Simple, I am kind to everyone, and anyone that works with me understands that basic principle. Yes, we provide high level audio visual and production support, but the secret sauce for us lies in how well we listen to and treat our clients. That is our foundational principal and one that will keep us in business for the future.

Any advice for managing a team?

Transparency, honesty, and the willingness to listen to your team is key when managing a team. In my case, I do not have any full time staff. Rather, I hire labor from the vast network of folks that are in my industry based on the need. You can imagine how tedious that can appear to be. But I am very careful with who I bring in, and I am very transparent and honest with what is expected. But I also listen to everyone in attempt to always find ways to make things better.

Being honest and transparent from a business trajectory stand point, and maintaining honesty and transparency with individual team members regarding their performance are two of the most crucial ways to maintain high morale. The more they know will lead to the more they will feel invested. And that will ultimately lead to a better work environment and a sense of belonging.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.DeShawnBigD.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deshawnbigd/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deshawnbigdmusic1
• Twitter: @deshawnbigd
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/deshawnbigd
• Other: For more information regarding the business, visit www.dnaje.com