By: Brianna Jones
Imagine throwing a Project X type of party every other weekend; with an outgoing personality and drive, one University of Central Florida student made that possible.
Fabian Rene, a junior marketing major, saw an untapped world and decided to conquer it. Commonly known as “Faybo,” he is a major party promoter at UCF. He went from having no social life in high school to being the go-to party guru for the black community his freshman year at UCF.
“I basically went to school, I went to football practice and after football practice I went home and then do it all over again,” Rene said.
Originally planned to go to Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University (FAMU), Rene was discouraged because he knew he could be something greater at UCF. After getting accepted for summer semester at UCF, he was driven to make the most out of his experience.
“At that point, I [swore] to God I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity that he gave me,” said Rene.
As a freshman, he was approached through Twitter by older UCF promoters — because of his magnetic personality — to join their promoting team. At first party promoting was just a pastime on social media, until he made $600 off of his first party. Using the skills that he learned in his marketing classes sophomore year, he created his own party-promoting company, FayboEra.
Rene’s first solo party, Who Is Who, was the event that made him known not only to UCF students, but also to local club owners and promoters. Who Is Who was a party where students on Twitter got to finally meet face-to-face with other students who they have been interacting with on social media. The end results were a success, with a turnout of over 500 people maxing out the local King Tut’s Lounge and a total revenue of $8,000.
“I was on a success high, it felt like nothing was going to stop me,” Rene said.
As his parties became more popular, Rene’s business began to expand. At the start, Rene did everything by himself; he was his own accountant and marketer, anything that needed to be done was done by him.
Realizing other ways to become more marketable, he joined a joint venture with his friend, Matthew Fontil.
Dropping the name FayboEra and picking up Fontil’s name, TMRWCO became a hit. Rene runs the company while Fontil, an up-and-coming rapper, focuses more on his music.
TMRWCO not only plans events but also handles artists like a record label, market and brand.
The company tries to reach all avenues of entertainment. Legitimizing his business even further, Rene hand-selected a team, choosing students from UCF, Valencia and Fullsail.
His go-to team consists of two of his closest friends, Kevin Louidor and Darius McFadden. They have weekly meetings to keep him updated on progress. Since these are paid positions, Rene is looking to start filing taxes.
“I’m just taking this company to a whole other level,” Rene said.
Making business relations with local club owners was a breeze because “money talks,” Rene said.
As the owners began to see his work ethic, they began to respect him.
“He’s the guy to go for college students,” said Tony Khuu, co-owner of Uno Night Club.
Now that he is a well-respected promoter, club owners don’t charge him a fee upfront as they would others. At the age of 20, Rene was able to host parties at local and downtown clubs.
Of course there are always hurdles in life; some downtown clubs treat him like the average college student and not like the well-rounded businessman that he is. This has caused him to shy away from downtown for a while.
“I want to be treated like a business partner not like some promoter you just hired,” Rene said.
Competition isn’t something Rene feeds into. Having a humble mindset, he isn’t looking to monopolize the industry.
“Some days I wake up feeling like Kanye and other days I’m like ‘it’s not mine it’s all of ours.’”
Majority of those in the same line of business as him are his friends, so instead of tearing each other down they collectively build on each other—having joint parties and being courteous when choosing party dates. Respect is a key component when business and friendships are involved.
“He stays positive regardless of the outcome… he’s resilient,” stated the Young Trend Setter CEO, Dimitri Jean- Pierre about Rene.
In addition to his business, Rene also maintains his grades and leadership roles. Freshman year he was a part of SB PAC, Sophomore year he was the CAB Marketing Director and is currently a member of Progressive Black Men.
His dreams exceed local UCF. After college he wants to continue to prosper with TMWRCO and move to Germany to work for BMW. Having been uncharacteristically quiet for the last few months, Rene is definitely up to something.
“I’m silent right now but, the moves are being made behind the scene.”
