It all started back in middle school when I attended my first school dance. Hearing the loud music and thumping bass from outside was exciting. Walking into the dimly-lit school gymnasium, I remember it looking like how it looked in teen movies.
Looking up on the stage, I see two or three guys with an array of equipment in front of them. It was two turntables, a mixer, and vinyl. Mp3s did not exist. There was no technology to connect your turntables to your computer. Laptop computers costed $3,500. I instantly thought it wa
s so cool how these guys can play and control the music to get people to enjoy their time and, for the non-wallflower people, dance.
Graduating from middle school and jumping into high school, I continued to watch DJs when they performed and listened to Wild 94.9, the Bay Area's number one hit music station. I would listen to DJs mixing on the air to try to decipher how it was done. Having Asian parents who's priority is to save money as much as possible, there was no way I could ask them to spend a few hundred dollars on DJ equipment. I couldn't even get them to buy me $45 White K-Swiss shoes, what all the cool kids were wearing.
It wasn't until senior year that I got in touch with my algebra 2 teacher, who was a DJ and DJed at our school dances, that I finally got started. I shadowed him at a few dances, where I was taught how to actually mix songs tog
ether. Eventually I got hired with the company he was working with and started DJing school dances.
After several months of working with the DJ company, I bought my own equipment. I practiced at home with the few records I had and eventually bought speakers. When I moved to Davis for college, I made my own flyer that said, "Need a DJ?" and posted it on every single bulletin board on campus and downtown. I had 2-3 gigs a month, playing for fraternity and sorority formals and house parties. After graduating and moving back home to San Jose, people started contacting me to DJ weddings and here I am.