Today we’d like to introduce you to Serina Biaggio and Parwani Caroleo.
Hi Serina and Biaggio, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
The Frederick Feed started with a simple idea: we wanted to get out into the community, meet interesting people, and experience Frederick in a more authentic way. Biaggio had originally started creating content as a way to introduce himself to local businesses after moving to the area, while Serina brought her background in marketing and deep connections to downtown Frederick to help bring a stronger creative vision to the idea. When we eventually teamed up and created The Frederick Feed, our goal was simply to tell stories about interesting people and small businesses in the community.
Naturally, food became a big part of that story. Everything really changed when we were craving wings and asked our audience where to find Frederick’s best wings and with a free day ahead of us, we decided to visit as many of their suggestions as we could and film the experience. That spontaneous idea became our first episode of “Finding Frederick’s Best” as well as our first viral reel.
From there, the community helped shape what The Frederick Feed would become. Today, we still celebrate Frederick’s food scene, but we’ve grown into much more covering community events, highlighting small businesses, creating videos and social media content for local organizations, and finding new ways to connect people with their community. What started as two people looking for a reason to get out and explore Frederick has grown into a platform built around the people, businesses, food, and experiences that make this community special
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Honestly, in many ways, we’ve been incredibly fortunate. Frederick has been welcoming, and we’re very grateful to live in a community where so many people are willing to take a chance on new ideas. But that doesn’t mean it was completely smooth.
One of our biggest challenges was that we were doing something that, at least in this market, hadn’t really been done in quite the same way before. We had seen local social media platforms and community-focused content succeed in other places, and we saw a real opportunity in Frederick. We knew there were incredible businesses, interesting people, amazing food, and events happening all around us we just felt there was room for a stronger, more creative way to bring all of those things together online.
Of course, seeing the potential and convincing everyone else to see it are two very different things. We heard “no” plenty of times, we also heard “you don’t have enough followers”, “i can do this with AI” and “it’s just not worth it” more times than we’d like to admit. In the beginning, some businesses took a chance on us before we had much of a track record at all. Sometimes that meant trading a meal for content while we built our portfolio and proved that our ideas could work. We were fortunate to find those early believers, because they gave us the opportunity to build something we could eventually point to and say, “Okay, this is what we mean.”
That has probably been one of the biggest lessons along the way: sometimes you can explain your vision over and over again, but eventually you just have to stop explaining it and show people.
As we’ve grown, we’ve also faced the challenge of helping businesses understand how important an authentic online presence can be. Technology is changing quickly, AI is changing the creative world, and there are more ways than ever to create content but we still believe there is tremendous value in real people telling real stories and genuinely showing up for their communities.
The biggest challenge and probably the biggest leap of faith came when we realized The Frederick Feed had grown to a point where we had to make a choice. We knew we couldn’t keep treating it like something we worked on whenever we had extra time and give it the best possible chance to grow at the same time. We believed in what we were building, we could see that the community wanted it, and we could see the positive impact it was having on local businesses. So we made the decision to leave the security of our office jobs and commit to this fully.
That was a risk, no question about it. But sometimes you reach a point where you either keep wondering what something could become, or you bet on yourself and find out.
And through all of it, we’ve tried to keep our perspective. The world is already full of enough negativity. We want The Frederick Feed to be a bright spot in someone’s day. We want to celebrate the people who say yes, support the businesses that are trying something new, and create something that feels positive and welcoming. We’re not interested in knocking down doors or competing with everyone around us. We genuinely believe that when local businesses, creators, and the community succeed together, Frederick becomes a better place for all of us.
So, was it a smooth ride? Not always. But we’ve been incredibly grateful for the people who believed in us early, the ones who continue to say yes, and even the occasional “no” that pushed us to prove ourselves a little harder.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
At its core, The Frederick Feed is a local discovery platform and creative content company. We help people discover the businesses, food, events, and experiences that make Frederick special, while also helping local businesses tell their stories through engaging social media content.
Our specialty is making things exciting. We have a very intentional approach to everything we create from the visuals and editing to the music, pacing, storytelling, and even the way we involve our audience. We want our content to stop the scroll, but more importantly, we want it to make people feel something. We don’t believe in creating content just to fill a calendar. We want every piece to have a purpose.
One of the biggest things that sets us apart is that we put our audience first. We’re constantly asking them where we should go, what they want to see, what they think, and what they want us to do next. Then we actually listen. That feedback directly shapes what we create. In that sense, The Frederick Feed isn’t just something we built for the community it’s something the community has helped build with us. People feel like they’re part of it, and we think that’s a big reason they connect with what we do.
We’re also incredibly proud of the relationships and impact we’ve created along the way. Some of our favorite moments aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest view counts. They’re when a business owner stops us and tells us that something we created brought people through their door, or thanks us for helping their business get noticed. Knowing that what we’re doing can actually make a difference for a small business means a lot to us.
But ultimately, what we’re most proud of is the character of The Frederick Feed. We’ve built it around positivity, creativity, community, and supporting the people around us. We want to be a place where people discover something new, find a business they want to support, or simply get a little brighter spot in their day. We get messages from businesses thanking us, and we get messages from people in the community thanking us for what we do. When both sides feel like they’re benefiting, we know we’re doing something right.
And maybe the most rewarding part is that this is ours. We get to build something we genuinely believe in, do work that we’re passionate about, and do it together. We’re proud of the business we’re building, but even more proud of the kind of presence we’re trying to create within the community.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
If we could give one piece of advice, it would be pretty simple: just do it, fix it later.
Fear is probably the biggest thing that stops people from pursuing an idea. You can come up with a hundred reasons why something won’t work, and there will always be people around you who can give you another hundred. What helped us was having each other. You need at least one person who sees the vision with you, especially when the people around you don’t quite understand it yet. Serina says she probably wouldn’t have done this without Biaggio, and Biaggio would say the same thing about her. Having someone who believes in what you’re building can be the difference between being afraid to start and actually taking the leap.
We’ve also learned to look at doubt differently. When someone tells you why something can’t be done, listen to them. They may actually be giving you a roadmap. If someone says it’s too expensive, figure out how to make it affordable. If they say you need the right connections, go build those relationships. If they tell you it won’t work, figure out what would make it work. Eventually, you stop arguing with people about your idea and start showing them.
For anyone creating content or putting themselves out there, we think authenticity is everything. You have to be undeniably yourself. If you have to invent a personality to make something work, you’re probably not going to be able to sustain it. Lean into what you’re actually good at, find people who are good at the things you aren’t, and don’t let your ego get in the way of making something better. When Serina first joined Biaggio on an earlier version of this idea, she basically told him, “I love what you’re doing, but it could be done a lot better.” Thankfully, instead of getting defensive, he said, “Awesome. How do we make it better?” That willingness to listen and evolve has been a huge part of our growth.
A content creator friend, “Mr. 8 That” may have put it best when he said “embarrassment is an underexplored emotion”. You have to be willing to make a fool of yourself sometimes. What’s the worst that happens? You post something that doesn’t work. Someone says no. Someone doesn’t like it. You move on. The fear of being embarrassed is almost always bigger than the embarrassment itself.
We’re also grateful that we found each other as partners in this. We get to build something that we genuinely believe in, take risks together, and support each other when one of us inevitably says, “I have an idea…” We’ve learned that you don’t need to have everything figured out before you start. You just need to be willing to start, stay true to yourself, listen, adapt, and keep going.
And honestly, if we had to leave people with one thing, it would still be: just do it. You might surprise yourself with what happens when you stop worrying about whether you’re ready and give yourself permission to find out.
Pricing:
- Content shoots starting at $300
- Media packages starting at $600 per month (quarterly commitment)
- Event coverage starting at $150 per hour (3hr min)
- Original content sponsorships starting at $350
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefrederickfeed?igsi=MTEwZzcxOHpvbDJraw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Twitter: https://www.tiktok.com/@thefrederickfeed?_r=1&_t=ZT-99Nk14l4MsI
