Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Frederic De Jesus. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Frederic, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

“Words have meaning and names have power.” – Author Unknown

I take pride in the thought behind the naming of my entities settling in on names rooted in something greater. BASILICA is inspired by my family name, De Jesus, and my catholic school educational upbringing. In the Catholic tradition, places of worship have a hierarchy in part determined by scale – on a common level, there is your local church, on the furthest end there is the Cathedral (like St Patrick’s Cathedral on NYC’s 5th Ave), and within that mix you’ll find Basilicas which are largely considered minor Cathedrals.

Given that the name is rooted in my family name I associate a sense of family and familiarity with it, thus I came up with the saying “Wherever I am is the Basilica,” effectively meaning that regardless of where I am, whoever is there is family.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My story begins in college at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) where I was enrolled as a pre-med student. As fate would have it, I was inspired by watching an episode of NYC Prep (a reality show that aired on Bravo) to throw a non-profit benefit concert, and using that spark, I formed a team gathering members from the student body to help me with this vision. Shortly thereafter, I met a man named Tyrell Eiland who presented himself to be the youngest person to run for the seat of NYC mayor and suggested we (the collective I formed) start a company and make this a thing that we do and from there Bello Group – an ode to my mother’s maiden name – was born. We toured various NYC venues including Gothan Hall and the Park Avenue Armory but our efforts were cut short due to us frankly being in over our heads. However, the idea evolved and manifested on a more manageable scale as a benefit concert in support of Relay for Life, hosted at the school’s auditorium on Broadway, with guest speaker Derek Watkins, known professionally as Fonzworth Bentley. This period served as the impetus for my decision to switch majors from pre-med to business.

From there I held a string of internships, most notably my first with Omerge Alliances under Olivia Scott and my last with Warner Records’ (then Warner Bros. Records) Brand Partnership and Creative Sync Licensing department under Lori Feldman who now is CMO at Wasserman Music.

My first internship with Omerge, a relationship maintained since 2012, led to my first ESSENCE Fest experience in 2017 where I managed the festival’s first attempt at a business conference dubbed “Path to Power.” That experience sparked my fire and love for the festival, entertainment, and event space which was greatly magnified by my 2018 move from New York to Atlanta and my 2019 involvement in launching and co-managing the Omerge-created “Wellness House” for the festival’s 25th Anniversary.

The stark dichotomy of a world on fire in 2020 and a very open and unchanged Atlanta served as the perfect launchpad for me to step into independently donning the producer hat by developing wellness and mental health programming for the African Women’s Cancer Awareness Association’s annual fundraiser, the Ladies First Breakfast (later dubbed the Ladies First Brunch).

Subsequently, I created, executive produced, directed, and hosted a pilot for a talk series discussing the issues facing real contemporary people in the community.

Ultimately, these experiences led me to the birth of BASILICA as I dug deeper into production, entertainment, and live experiences producing and booking talent for numerous weekly and monthly shows, one-time events and concerts, mid-to-large scale events, and brand commercial shoots.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I’ve built my reputation by showing up as my true self in every room and putting the results of the work first. I’ve found that many people care to do things due to its perceived coolness and the ancillary benefits by association. In the age of social media and content, many are driven by the desire to be seen as the man (or woman) behind the thing and be heralded as such. I, on the other hand, desire to do the work and build a valuable skillset for no other reason than knowing that I can pull it off, replicate it, and improve over time.

I’m often told during my events and engagements how I cultivate spaces lacking ego, pretentiousness, and weird vibes, and to me that largely speaks to the fact that the spaces I create are reflections of me and my approach to life.

Additionally, I like to hold myself to my word. I’d rather not talk or promise things just for the sake of talking. If I tell you I’m doing something it’s going to happen, at times it may take longer than I would like but it’s going to get done.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

It’s okay to change your mind after you’ve made a decision.

There is much to be said about working towards your dreams. Much like moving away from home (and family) does for your character, working towards your dream builds you, the grit and perseverance needed to weather the inevitable ups and downs—it’s your mission to survey the landscape and excavate resources all while preventing the walls from caving in. They say nothing good comes easy, but what if what you’re working towards becomes more depleting than fulfilling?

“Just because someone stumbles and loses their path, doesn’t mean they’re lost forever.” – Professor X

That is where I found myself after getting into the car rental space post the height of the pandemic (or during, depending on where you lived and how you determined the timeline).

This one move, in hindsight, taught me the greatest lessons of not being so hasty in my decision-making, to think through what I’m getting involved in, with whom I’m getting involved, and how deeply and quickly I’ll involve myself.

Admittedly, when I set my sights on something I like I tend to go all the way in, and I become consumed. Although not a bad trait at face value, coupled with a misaligned focus or insufficient business processes, things were misguided, and keeping things afloat led to depletion and burnout.

Seeing things for what they are and having the discernment of knowing what is worth sticking things out for versus when you should cut your losses is an essential tool in your arsenal for preserving your mental health and space.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fredericdejesus/

Image Credits
Chuck Marcus (@chuckmarcus)