SEASON 3: EPISODE 1 TRANSCRIPT

Veronica Berti Bocelli

Veronica Berti Bocelli (00:06): You are living the most beautiful moment of life. And even if sometimes when you are leaving it, you don't realize that each second, each moment, each decision counts a lot. So do it with responsibility. Don't take for granted the people that you have around because they won't be there forever. And I know that whenever you look at it from an additional perspective, at a different age, it sounds a little bit strange, but be happy.

Dr. Greg Jones (00:37): In a world that can feel divided and uncertain hope reminds us of the power of compassion, service and shared humanity. It calls us to use our personal gifts, whether through music, leadership or simple acts of kindness to shine light where it's needed most. Hope becomes not just a feeling, it's a way of living that unites and heals.

My name is Greg Jones, President of Belmont University, and I'm honored to be your guide through candid conversations with amazing agents of hope, people who demonstrate what it means to live with hope and lean into the lessons picked up along the way. They are The Hope People.

If you were with us in person for our Evening of Hope celebration, you'll likely recognize today's agent of Hope. Veronica Berti Bocelli, wife, manager, and co-founder of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation. Veronica, along with her husband, the world-renowned operatic tenor, Andrea Bocelli, helped us launch Hope Transforms, the university's most ambitious comprehensive fundraising campaign to date at a special concert in the Fisher Center featuring our student musicians. In our conversation today recorded prior to the event, Veronica shares how her deep faith has shaped her sense of service and leadership, inspiring her to make a lasting impact through the foundation's global initiatives.

Veronica reflects on the transformative work being done in Haiti, the role of compassion and time in building stronger communities and the unifying power of music as a force for healing. She also offers heartfelt encouragement to young people to live with gratitude, cherish relationships, and approach each moment as a gift. Her story is a beautiful reminder that hope when paired with purpose has the power to change the world. Veronica, thank you for joining us on The Hope People Podcast. We're so thrilled that you and your husband will be coming to Belmont and we look forward to that with great anticipation. Thank you for joining us today.

Veronica Berti Bocelli (02:56): Thank you. It is my pleasure and honor to be with you today.

Dr. Greg Jones (03:01): Your journey is deeply intertwined with music, with philanthropy, with leadership. When you think about hope, what does that mean to you as you look at your own journey?

Veronica Berti Bocelli (03:12): It's basically the balance point of existence. There's nothing else that matters if you don't have that inside yourself. It drives me every day. I never lost it. Let me say I've been lucky enough that I didn't have a point where I lost it in my life. I only have the proof that we were right having hope.

Dr. Greg Jones (03:35): Can you share a time in your life when that sense of hope and that orientation toward the future really carried you through a difficult time or helped set you in a new direction?

Veronica Berti Bocelli (03:48): But this happen every day. I mean, life is made of a decision and I'm a person that decides very quickly. I'm not saying this right thing to do, but I'm always unfortunately even too much sometimes driven by the instinct and my husband is exactly the same. So all the time I have to force myself to think from 1 to 10 because of course every decision takes brings responsibility and I'm always happy to take my responsibility. What I will hope for myself is to have a little bit more time thinking how important it is to come from 1 to 10 and do the right things.

Dr. Greg Jones (04:27): That's wonderful. When you think about your leadership and your service and the impact that you have in the world, how has your faith inform and help nurture that sense of service and leadership?

Veronica Berti Bocelli (04:41): I mean, faith is a gift. I didn't have that gift since I was born. It's something that I searched over the years over when I was 21 years old, I had to admit that I was not even baptized until I was 21 years old. I come from a family that wanted to let me decide what to do. So at a certain point in life I went to them and said, "Why you didn't give me that gift?" Because basically baptizing a child is a gift. He's not an imposition. And they said, "We were sure that you would do the moment you wanted to do it." I said, "Okay." And then Andrea had a strong role in that sense in my life, Andrea is... We sort of make fun in a good way saying he's a pastor inside because he really wants to bring everybody who doesn't have a strong faith, who doesn't have a faith at all toward that path.

And sometimes I have to remind him, Andrea, the faith is a gift. It's not an imposition because sometimes if he seated on a table and he found one person who has not yet faith, he will just go straight down the entire night, the entire evening for days until it will let him understand how important it is to go in that direction as it is the only chance in life. I don't know if you remember, but there's a story Dostoevsky said that the fate is like the only solution when there's only one door in a room in fire. So there's no other solution. I'm not sure I think that way. Andrea think really this way. I will love to think that is the most beautiful choice you can do because I always imagine that we have a lot of doors in front of us, but that's the one that you know is the best one.

Dr. Greg Jones (06:26): That's beautiful. You're a mom, you're a stepmother, you're also a global leader. How do you help nurture hope in others, whether it's your children or in other people with whom you interact? How do you inspire them to have a sense of hope?

Veronica Berti Bocelli (06:42): First of all, thank you for saying all that things. I do believe I'm a person of goodwill. That's it. I mean, I'm a mom for sure. I've been and I am a stepmom, but there's no different from me. Whenever you have somebody who depends from you, from your decision, from what you do, from what you know, it doesn't matter where the children comes from, they're blood of your blood, if they were adopted just in the house because it belonged to somebody else, I feel the same way. I don't think, and I know, don't get me wrong, I don't think my daughter is different, better, worse than anybody else, is a human being. And I know I will treat her in the same way I will treat any other child or any other person in my house. Of course I love her, but I feel the same sense of responsibility that I will have with any other human being.

And when you say I'm a leader, I don't think I'm a leader. I mean just again, I'm a person that has been put in a position to do good and there's no other choice. I say there is not something that you can decide. I mean it is literally the only way of being. You can only do a mistake. You can't do anything better because it doesn't belong to us. It is not our decision. We're just tools and you know you're in the tools, thanks God of somebody else hands. And whenever you know that very clearly, you have only the responsibility of not doing mistake, you know the way, you know the path, you know where you have to go.

And this reminds me when my husband says people go see him and say, "Oh, you have with your beautiful voice, you can do a lot of things." And he always reminds that comes from God. It doesn't come from you. So you cannot be proud of what you have. You only have to be responsible for not the mage what somebody else from above gave to you and you have to take care of and use it in the right way.

Dr. Greg Jones (08:35): I love the way you say you don't have a choice. You have to be good. But I wish all people saw that they didn't have a choice. We'd have a much better world if everybody saw it as a responsibility to receive that gift and to do good that they are. We'd have a much happier world and more peaceful one. So thank you for that inspiring sense.

Veronica Berti Bocelli (08:56): I had this discussion many times even inside my family because people think these things that because you have the possibility economically speaking, then you must do the difference. That's not true. Each of us has the possibility on makes a difference in somebody else's life, in our life, in our community life, in our family first, in our community, and then enlarging knowing that if you take care about your neighbor, then you're taking care about the entire world. Because if all of us will do that, we'll have a better world. And the way I'm saying is that I had the discussion again in the past that even inside my family when they said, "It's easy because some people have the money and they can make the difference," I said, "No." If you have your time to be at disposal with others only even if you have to listen to them when they have a problem, they don't know who to speak to, give your time and that is the most precious things you can do.

Dr. Greg Jones (09:50): Oh, that's terrific. I want to ask you about the Andrea Bocelli Foundation whose mission is to empower people in communities. Can you talk about what inspired its creation and how your role in that foundation has evolved over time?

Veronica Berti Bocelli (10:04): I mean, I met a man 25 years ago who was a man, a kind of person who always would've said yes to the people in need to the foundation who were asking for support for help. He was the kind of person, he is the kind of person who will give his voice to the people that has no voice. And at a certain point in life, 15 years ago, we really felt the necessity to found something, to found the foundation of that was empowering, that was embodying the mission that we had in our hearts. So it was a way of putting together and maximizing the effort that we were doing as a family and try to see if other family, other friends would love to join for the same aim, for the same mission. So basically we started first as volunteers and then we decided that we wanted to just evaluate the impact we were having with the project that we were carrying on.

And also in terms of everything that comes with that, the responsibility of opening a foundation, sometimes when we are very tired and you know have the responsibility for like 1,000 kids that tomorrow morning has to eat, has to be dressed, has to go to school, has to need food, they need book and say why we did it. And then you watch the few images to see them going to school to see that you just allowed them to have a possibility. The one we give for granted and they wouldn't have it. And then it's enough to go ahead and fund whatever and go ahead with all the effort that takes. I started with Andrea and we were three, Andrea, of course it wouldn't be possible, myself, just a young person with goodwill, nothing more. And then Laura, Laura was Andrea's dearest friend and she studied to do that.

She was working in another foundation and Andrea said, "It's either you or nobody else, no pressure." So she thought about that. It took four years because she was doing another job and working in the night for us. And during the day for the other job she wanted to volunteer. I said, "No, you have to do it as a job." So she started and the foundation of course took a different path and went faster. So we now are a little family foundation compared to the one that you have in the United States as a balance. We go from 13 to 15 million per year, but we use them all, all the time spent during the years with the project that we care, which are more than 53 at the moment active.

Dr. Greg Jones (12:35): That's amazing. When you think about what the foundation is doing from Haiti to Italy, the foundation has launched transformative projects in education, in healthcare, in the arts. Is there a particular initiative or project that has particularly moved you and why has that had that impact on your heart and your soul?

Veronica Berti Bocelli (12:58): You're asking to a mother, which child you love the most, right?

Dr. Greg Jones (13:00): Yes.

Veronica Berti Bocelli (13:03): It's like you ask Andrea, "Which is the song you love the most to perform?" Let's say every child is different. We are a living laboratory, so all the time that something starts is a new excitement. But we always remember the memory we brought us there and the person, because each of the project is connected to stories. Of course the one that started in Haiti because in Haiti we were working there since 25 years as a family. And so we have a lot of connection down there. Then when my daughter was born, of course you felt the necessity of being close to the mother. I felt really the necessity to be closer to the mother that didn't have the same possibility I had in my life. And that's why Haiti is probably the one as a softer spot in my heart.

Dr. Greg Jones (13:50): I understand and they are different and equally lovable, but sometimes they do have a special place in your heart, maybe because of that longevity. Music is obviously central to both your life and your husband's life and work. How do you see music as a vehicle for healing, for unity, for hope?

Veronica Berti Bocelli (14:13): I really and genuinely believe that music comes from heaven and there's good music and bad music. I'm so sorry that in this moment you hear the music in the back because my husband is singing and I cannot ask him to shut up.

Dr. Greg Jones (14:34): It's good music.

Veronica Berti Bocelli (14:35): It's good. This is good music. Yes. I hope it's the same for you. It is rehearsing for to come to you. So rehearsing to come to Belmont.

Dr. Greg Jones (14:44): That's about as good a background as you could ask for.

Veronica Berti Bocelli (14:47): Okay. So music has always been important. I grew up with music even if my father was teaching mathematics and teaching nuclear physics at the university and then in the high school it was opera lover. And that's the reason why I met my husband or at least that was what makes clicks the loves among the two of us and was very young. But I was very into that kind of music. I mean, I'm not a singer, I'm in tune, which is a completely different things to be a singer because whenever you go on a stage you need to have that X factor. Now they all call it that way, but it's true.

You need to know that you're carrying a certain message and you carry the right way that you are able to go to the heart of the people and enlighten their life. So I'd rather sing in the shower even if I'm in tune and I am very happy to perform sometimes at home with my husband. But yes, music has surrounded my life since the very beginning. And as we always like to repeat and I think about this when I'm in church, the moment I like the most is the singing moment. So when we are in church, I always repeat that I love Sant'Agostino. While he was saying that, of course, who sings pray twice.

Dr. Greg Jones (15:59): That's a beautiful saying. I've loved that. My mother was a singer and the choir director in church and she used to both use that quote of Saint Augustine and she also loved this quote of Saint Augustine that a Christian should be an Alleluia from head to toe.

Veronica Berti Bocelli (16:15): That's so true. And let me say that what I adore about United States is the happiness that you have in church. In Europe, let me complain a little bit about this, not everywhere, but mostly we lost this sense of happiness. I'm happy when I go in church in the United States, I may not understand everything you said and I excuse myself or my English because expressing ourselves in a different, when you don't have the shade of the language, it's very complicated, especially if you try to say something interesting. But at the same times when I enter in church in the United States, I'm so excited because I know I'm going to go away with a smile on. And this is also because of the music that you have that you are able to put together and the motivation and the excitement that you have there. You're not scared to be Christian.

Dr. Greg Jones (17:06): Thanks. That's very nice of you to say. I will say that your English is very good and far better than my Italian. So thank you for speaking in English?

Veronica Berti Bocelli (17:14): There's nothing you can do so you'd rather stick to your English.

Dr. Greg Jones (17:19): You are very gifted in English and thank you. I want to ask you one final question. As you look ahead, what dreams do you have for the next chapter of your own life and for the foundation's work? What dreams are you looking at?

Veronica Berti Bocelli (17:34): I wish for myself and for the foundation to be the right tools to have that from above we will be guided in the right direction. Because all the time when you think that you are doing something, you're losing the idea of what's supposed to be the true path. So let's always hope that we are going to be just an instrument, just the tools from something that come from above and we are doing the right things. And in terms of the foundation, of course we have many projects. We are continuously involving a lot of people. Some of them brings economy without which you cannot go ahead. Some of them bring their own skills without which we will not be able to empower the community we are working with. And also time, there's people that brings their time, the time to listen to people that now is no longer existing anymore.

We used to have community when people will go around and just speak to each other and listen to each other and comfort each other. We don't have that ability anymore. I'm losing it myself. I'm not tolerant as it used to be when I was 20 years old. I just literally have no patience. And this is the things I pray the most for myself because I know if it happened to me, I affect everybody around me. So I always pray to be able to go back and to have a smile even when you don't want to smile, to just be kind and react to somebody who's doing something wrong with the kindness because that wins always. And the first things I have to do is just remind me to myself.

Dr. Greg Jones (19:12): As we close, do you have a message that you would want to convey to your 20-year-old self or perhaps to a 20-year-old student at Belmont as you look back? And what would you want to say to a 20-year-old?

Veronica Berti Bocelli (19:25): That you're live in the most beautiful moment of life. And even if sometimes when you're leaving it, you don't realize that, each second, each moment, each decision counts a lot. So do it with responsibility. Don't take for granted the people that you have around because they won't be there forever, treasure them. And I know that whenever you look at from the additional perspective, different age, it sounds a little bit strange, but be happy.

Dr. Greg Jones (19:59): That's beautiful. Veronica, you are a true agent of hope and inspiration. You and your husband are making such an impact through music, through your foundation, through your leadership. We're grateful for all you do and thank you for taking time to join us on the Hope People podcast.

Veronica Berti Bocelli (20:16): Thank you very, very much for having me, Greg. We can't wait to be there. And thank you for having us.

Dr. Greg Jones (20:29): Thank you for participating in this conversation with The Hope People. Our aim is to inspire you to become an agent of hope yourself and to help us cultivate a sense of well-being for all. To join our mission and learn more about this show visit thehopepeoplepodcast.com. If you enjoyed this conversation, remember to rate and review wherever you get your audio content.