Jesyka Dereta, September Group LLC and Monolith Registry LLC

From covering political happenings for two of the Intermountain West’s farthest ranging television broadcast and radio stations to jumping from the frying pan and into the fire and now helping happenings in politics – Jesyka Dereta, Client Relations Manager for September Group, Inc. and Monolith Registry (.Vote), has been a part of everything from covering gubernatorial elections to recently helping two new governors take their places in American states.

Candidates.vote– Jesyka, the first question I have for you with such a beautiful and unique spelling for your first name and obviously an eastern European last name, where are you from?

Dereta– The ethnicity of the last name is Serbian, but I grew up in Utah and went to college at the University of Utah getting a degree in broadcast journalism and communications.

Candidates.vote– Well, with that on the record I’ve got to ask you the same question I put to everyone at the beginning of the interview. Jesyka, being a person seen on camera a lot of the time are you a hamburger or a cheeseburger kind of person?

Dereta– Don’t eat it very often, but most definitely cheeseburger; you’ve just got to have the cheese. And if I’m going to treat myself to some red meat hamburger it’s going to have to have the cheese on it. And if I come home to Utah I most definitely have to go to Lucky 13.

Candidates.vote– You’re meaning Lucky 13 Bar and Grill here in Salt Lake City; isn’t that place been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives? When you order a cheeseburger is it pickles or no pickles?

Dereta– Pickles for sure. I know it might sound gross to some people but the pickles I really like are the sweet ones. I’ll even just eat the sweet pickles right out of the jar. But Lucky 13 really is one of the things I miss about here (Dereta recently moved to Florida.). I even think about it and crave eating there.

Candidates.vote– Okay, I’ve got to call you on the not really eating much. Like I said; you’ve got the perfect look for television and voice for radio. So where does anything like a Lucky 13 cheeseburger fit in the mix?

Dereta – (Laughing) I have to put the food thing down to a high metabolism or something. Along with exercise and some habits I developed when I was young.

Candidates.vote– Are those eating habits anything you can share with the rest of us so we can benefit?

Dereta– Well, first I go as long as I can before I treat myself with something like a cheeseburger at Lucky 13. The other, I have nothing bad in my house. If I want a treat, so to speak, I have to go out for it. Otherwise, in the fridge there are vegies, fruit and your basic Rabbit Foot.

My mom never had bad food in the house. I guess it was instilled in me when I was younger and has just stuck with me. I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t love cookies, cakes and donuts. I do, but they just aren’t in the house so I’m not tempted.

Candidates.vote– You need to write a book about that diet, it’s got some good attributes to it. Speaking of books, what book is September, Inc.’s, social media spokesperson for all holidays and special days – like Pi Day – reading if you don’t mind sharing.

Dereta– (Smiling) A book I go back to reading again and again for the past 10 years is, “The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heart Felt Commitment to Your Mate,” by Gary Chapman. I know some people are going to read that and wonder why I go back to it – especially with what I do for a living now.

It’s a relationship book though and it can be applied to friends, co-workers, children and politicians. I read it again and am constantly better understanding myself as well as other people.

Candidates.vote– Can I ask where you were introduced to the book?

Dereta– Yes, my mom recommended it to me. And in fact, I took my mom’s book and have lived with it through the years. I’ve loaned it out and it’s marked up and the pages folded. And in fact, if someone doesn’t return it to me I will hunt them down.

I do like to read just about anything and everything though. It’s why I became a journalist. I like to read and to write. After I graduated from the University of Utah I stayed in Utah a while and worked at ABC 4 and then for KSL – from radio there to television and everything in between.

Candidates.vote– And now you’re part of September, Inc., and Dot.Vote. How did a move right into the political world begin for you – besides the covering of candidates and races when you were with the media?

Dereta– I moved to Illinois and did some anchoring and hosting there in a city just about two hours outside of Chicago. That’s where I learned I was a city girl and used to escape to Chicago as often as I could. The ribs, the pizza, the baseball, the museums. I saw the river turn green on St. Patrick’s, and shopped and shopped the Miracle Mile.

I thoroughly enjoyed and loved it – but not so much the winters. Utah’s are cold, but this is a different kind of cold. After a couple of years in Illinois I made contact with September, Inc. and Monolith and was already familiar with the companies and loved them, and when there was a chance to go to work and to and get me to Miami – I jumped at it.

Candidates.vote– Much of what you do involves social media. What kind of advice do you have for the people who use social media – that very same media you are doing messaging on as part of what you do now?

Dereta– I’m just like almost everyone out there when it comes to social media. You can’t help but have a love/hate relationship with it. One of the great things is it gives people a chance to be themselves on it because the audience isn’t right there watching.

The bad though comes from those who are now on the phone looking for the instant gratification with their thumbs. I don’t mean to be a hypocrite because yes, I’m on it. Yet there are those on it who are not talking and building relationships personally.

Candidates.vote– What’s your hardcore advice to those out there who might read this as part of that social media and not be looking up?

Dereta– My advice. Unfollow anything that makes you feel bad about yourself or anyone else. Don’t wallow in it. Why wallow in it?

Candidates.vote– You’re part of something now – politics – and there are some who right now might be seeing and hearing that word as “dirty”. What do you say to something like that?

Dereta– I never want to tell someone the way they think is bad. Imagine how boring the world would be if we all thought the same? The way someone is thinking might be nothing more than because of the way they were raised. In America it is wonderful we can have other options about what we think; and pick and choose.

Dereta can be reached by going to www.SeptemberGroupllc.com.