Friends and colleagues alike shook their heads in disbelief when Patrick Sincere Thompson made dramatic career change at the age of 20. Despite his youth at the time, he was raking in $80,000 as an investment broker for Morgan Stanley when he cashed it all in to work as an intern at a recording studio for a mere $5 a day.
“My mom and others thought I was crazy,” said Thompson. “But it wasn’t about the money. It was about the experience and the opportunity to do something that I loved. I dipped into my savings and just did it. Being successful meant more than having money. Being happy meant doing what I enjoyed and I enjoyed being around the music business.”
Today the 42-year-old runs Frontline Marketing & Productions, based in Harlem, where his clients have included artists such as Chico De Barge and his net worth is upwards of $1 million. 
His first promotional project was developing a series of events in New York, Atlanta Los Angeles to promote singer Eryka Badu. More recently he’s developed promotional events for HBO, AT&T Rock Star Games and Sony Playstation. Thompson is living proof you can turn your passion into profits. Many people dream of getting paid to do what they love. While some dream, others make it happen.
However his meteoric rise to the top was a long road indeed. Thompson made his way from the mailroom at JP Morgan to broker within two years, simply relying on his networking skills and gusto. But it was one particular experience at JP Morgan that changed his life. One broker in particular, Joe Zickerman, affectionately known as Hollywood Joe because he handled the accounts for Sylvester Stallone, Elizabeth Taylor and the like invited me to a party he was having at his Upper East Side New York apartment. “When I attended, I was rubbing shoulders with the likes of many of his top clients. I remember saying to myself, these folks are so happy because they’re doing what they love and making a lot of money doing it. It was then that it occurred to me that being successful was more that just making a lot of money but it was doing what you loved.”
Spurred on by this experience Thompson made a significant career change. Shortly after this meeting he did some soul searching and realized that music, not stock brokering was his passion.
He was initially stymied by his lack of contacts in the industry but the ever resourceful Thompson eventually found his way at Wild Pitch Records were he interned for the paltry $5 a day. He kept moving forward, eventually rising to prominence. He was eventually handed the position of National Director of Promotion despite a glaring lack of experience.
“My boss ‘Stu’ loved me,” Thompson noted. “You can train someone with a great attitude to do a job anytime, but you can’t train someone with a bad attitude, that’s why he selected me over other candidates”
One particular project convinced Thompson that he really did have a knack for promotion and marketing. The song “Looking at the Front Door” by the group “Main Source” was by no means a potential chart topper, that was until Thompson got his hands on the project. Through his hard work, Thompson catapulted the record to 1st place on the Billboard Charts. Soon after he pushed a number of records to the #1 spot and began to garner the interest of the rest of the industry. Eventually he took his contacts and founded his own company Frontline Marketing.
Long time Business associate and friend Kedar Massenburg, CEO of Kedar Entertainment has followed Thompson’s meteoric rise throughout the years. “He is one of a kind, the risks he took, the things he has been able to do, for even someone successful like me, I look up to him”
However his hard work could not prepare him what happened in 2009. He still remembers the diagnosis ‘When they told me I had cancer I couldn’t believe it, it sounds cliche but i never thought it would happen to me, I ate healthy and was still relatively young.”
The cancer Thompson contracted, mantle cell lymphoma is a rare form of cancer which affects the bone marrow. Thompson knew he had a prolonged treatment period ahead of him but with his two daughters on his mind and his never say die attitude he was well equipped to deal with what would turn out to be the most trying time of his life thus far.
“It was a tough two years, but I made it and now I feel stronger than ever,” said Thompson.
Now, Thompson who only showcases his native Jamaican dialect on occasion has learned to slow down. “I haven’t stopped completely by any means, but the thought of my daughters growing up without a father hit me hard” he noted.
Small but incremental changes have had an impact. Instead of going to sleep in the wee hours of the morning he now opts for a midnight curfew. He even takes routine naps throughout the day, a luxury afforded to him as a result of his home office.
Back to full health Thompson is ready for the upcoming challenges. He now runs his company from the comfort of his home in Rockland County, only venturing into the city when absolutely necessary.
“It’s better this way, now I can get my work done but also be here for my daughters, that’s what’s really important.”