Jessica Grecco, known as Jeska Grecco, is a talented São Paulo native who works as a Brazilian publicist, writer, presenter and podcaster. From an early age, she showed her interest in communication, revealing her aptitude for this area through creative play during her childhood and adolescence.
Anticipating her time, Jeska saw the potential of the digital universe to share a game with friends. In 2012, together with her partner Ariane Freitas, she started the project “Indiretas do Bem” as a Facebook page, which was on the rise at the time. On the first day, one of the publications went viral and, three years later, the creators released a series of highly successful books: “Livro do bem” (2014), “Livro do amor” (2015), “Livro do Sossego” (2015), “Livro do bem 2” (2016), “Recados do bem” (2017) and “Livro do bem 3” (2018). Currently, the page has more than 7 million followers on Facebook and more than 200,000 on Instagram, allowing the public to enjoy and remember its valuable content.
After this period of ascension, it became evident that the cultivated community had crossed the boundaries of social networks. Books, direct contact with people on the streets and events provided new impetus to the project. At a certain point, Grecco decided to return to her advertising career, which was a crucial move to keep her up-to-date in the market and enable the identification of new business opportunities for her projects.
Together with Carol Rocha, Grecco created the podcast “Imagina Juntas” in November 2017, which was one of the first to be introduced on Spotify. The podcast addresses everyday topics and had an intense repercussion. In 2019, the creators were nominated for the best podcast award on MTV Miaw. Currently, the podcast has a new season in which all participants are women and features a videocast format, achieving enormous success. With a sensitive look at women’s issues, Grecco is also the creator of the hashtag #DateComigoMesma, which is still used today by women who feel empowered by sharing their personal commitments with themselves.
In 2020, with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Grecco and her husband, Leandro Neko, decided to create the podcast “Diário de Bordo”. Initially, they believed that the project would last only fifteen days of social isolation. However, what began in an unpretentious way continued for a year, with a total of 365 unpublished episodes addressing subjects such as Big Brother Brasil and pop culture. After gaining great repercussion, the podcast was incorporated into Rede Globo’s Gshow catalog and continues to be released weekly.
Pioneer of podcasts in the country, Jeska Grecco is the presenter of “BBB Tá On”, available on audio platforms, together with communicator Patrícia Ramos, with unpublished episodes every Monday, where the formation of the wall reverberates, Wednesdays in conversation with the eliminated and Fridays in a live mesacast version, at noon, available on Gshow and Globoplay.
You became nationally known for “Indiretas do Bem”, at the time, how did you realize that it was becoming a success?
We felt it was becoming a success when we realized that people kept coming in commenting. People started to think it was some brand action, something that wasn’t true because it was doing so well so fast, and nobody knew who the perpetrators were, so they thought it was a brand action. This means that we were doing such a good job that people thought there was a mind behind it, and in the end it was just us making a page that was working.
In addition to social media, you expanded the project to book format. How was this transition and what was the public reception at a time when digital was in vogue?
It was a pre-boom time for books by youtubers, so the publisher was going to talk to us about doing a project, but at the same time we wanted to do something different and really think of the project as a content and work platform . It was a business thought of, really, how we can be entrepreneurs of our business, and not just online, generating revenue in other ways. And the book, in addition to our passion for reading and writing, had this business side of turning it into something profitable that didn’t just depend on online.
After a period of great success with the project, you decided to return to advertising as a career. How did this experience contribute to the development of new projects?
In fact, it wasn’t a comeback, it was a continuation because I was already doing advertising on Indiretas do Bem, it was just a format within the company. I felt that a lot had changed, both in new social networks and media formats that people worked with, and how that could be monetized for content creators as well. And I felt that I needed to look inside again at how this wheel was turning in terms of trends, formats that brands were doing, things that were happening and that many times you only have access if you work in an advertising agency, being able to receive files from foreign surveys, these things; so I needed to be fed again with these trends and inspirations to be able to think about new projects and stay inspired.
The “Imagina Together” podcast was a milestone in her career, addressing everyday topics in a relaxed way. How do you see the importance of this podcast in the discussion of women’s issues?
Imagina was a turning point in my career! I think because that was when I actually started working with podcasts, and in the beginning we were even born a little before there was even a boom in podcasts. We were one of the first podcasts to be published on Spotify, so that helped a lot for the public to reach us; a lot of people started listening to podcasts because of Imagina (which is really cool and important), and many started to understand some guidelines and situations that they or people close to them were experiencing. There is a case that really left an impact on us, which was a son who saw his mother live in an abusive relationship with his father, and he started to put Imagina on for them to listen to together in the car, and she began to notice some things that happened to her and that she didn’t realize before listening to us. She ended up ending that relationship, she returned to her city to study and very grateful for what her son was able to bring through us in this story. So for us, this kind of thing is very important, I think it’s a very rich path within Imagina.
In addition to the podcast, you are known for the hashtag #DateComigoMesma. Could you talk a little more about this initiative and how it impacts other women?
DateComigoMesma was born within Imagina Juntas even as a subject that I brought up, and many people started to do it and mark me, and talk about how, especially for women, it is very difficult to have the impetus to go out alone. I have few friends who feel comfortable going out alone, who do a lot of things alone, like traveling and such, and they are always seen as “my god, you do everything alone!”, they have that look of great courage. And I feel like a lot of people lack that. And when I realized that in myself it was a big change in my life. I feel that this subject impacts the lives of many women who are afraid of going out alone, who don’t think much about doing something for themselves, but that DateComigoMesma helps to create these moments, whether at home, or going to a restaurant alone, going at a party alone or going to the movies alone,
In 2020, you and your husband created the podcast “Diário de Bordo”, which became a success with daily episodes for a year. How was that experience and how did you keep the creativity and motivation to produce so many episodes?
In the Logbook we found motivation to do different things even more indoors during the pandemic lockdown. It was a moment when we could think about other things, laugh about other things and pretend that nothing was happening for half an hour, being able to have fun. I feel that this was also a form of shelter and welcome for many people who also had the same feeling that we lived there during the pandemic, which was very difficult and painful, with many people we lost. So it was a moment for us to be able to maintain joy for other people and for ourselves in some way; that moment was very important.
Now, as host of “BBB Tá On”, how was that experience and how do you see the role of podcasts in TV program coverage?
Introducing the BBB Tá On is an incredible experience, which I never imagined in my life and which I love, I am very grateful! I feel that podcasts within TV coverage are another way for you to consume that program, it seems that you get into it more and manage to break it down, be more dense. Twitter is the second screen while you’re watching; the podcast is the deepening of that story, and I think that’s really cool. And BBB Tá On does this a lot by bringing the eliminated ones, bringing guests, sometimes someone who is close to those in the house to tell more about that person, and all this within an official vehicle, which is always very important. So I’m really happy to be a part of it.
What are your future plans in the area of communication and entertainment? Do you have a project or collaboration you would like to share with us?
I’m always creating stuff! I think the content format comes to me in many different ways, but podcasting is something I love to do and want to do more and more! And working on the contents that I already do with more depth and density, such as DateComigoMesma itself, which is something I talk about a lot and take a lot forward, wanting to keep talking and doing more and more in whatever format. I think there are many cool things, and others that aren’t quite right yet, and I’m in favor of only talking even when things work out real and official so that later we don’t get frustrated. But know that there’s a lot of cool stuff going on and my content will always keep happening, always thinking about bigger things and reaching new people. That’s what I want for the future for sure!
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