Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Celena Chong. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Celena, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
My path to confidence started in an unlikely place – as a journalist covering tech and finance, starting in my teens. I was this soft-spoken intern with dreadful sidebangs who couldn’t even legally drink, making calls to powerful executives and politicians. Even though I could write well, I was not assertive at all. I faced constant skepticism – people hanging up because my voice sounded young, newsroom veterans dismissing me, sources trying to intimidate me.
I remember writing this story about Lyft leaving Austin because they were going to force drivers to get fingerprinted or something like that. The council-people basically cussed me out on the phone one by one because they looked bad. I remember a really burly, normally soft-spoken editor who doesn’t speak more than five words at a time just pick up the phone, rip them into shreds and come to my defense. He told me after the call: “you’ve got a gift so you should push back when you know you’re right.”
Even though I stopped pursuing this path, I grew more confident in my abilities with age and maturity, but also there’s literally no reason to doubt myself if I know I can produce good work and have done something already ten thousand times before. Now, I operate with a simple truth: doubt is the enemy of progress. Nobody looks back and thinks “man, I should have believed in myself less.” So….it’s cliche, but you really have to because nobody else will do it for you.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m an Asian American DJ and producer, with an affinity for the faster, darker parts of house, hard groove and techno. You’ll see me at warehouses or club stages at night, but during the day, I’m a consultant and contractor for tech companies. One day, I hope to be able to pursue music full time.
My journey in music has been particularly meaningful as an Asian American woman in the house and techno scene. I’ve got inspirations like Peggy Gou, Marie Vaunt, Bleu Clair, Taiki Nulight…but not a lot of people look like me in music. A lot of people don’t know that I’m also queer — when you combine both of those things, there’s even less of us. One day, I’m really hoping to at some point launch a record label an d create experiences that specifically aims to amplify lesser heard voices in electronic music, similar to what L.P. Giobbi has done for women in EDM.
Making music can be this super solitary thing – just you in a dark room with your headphones for hours. And yeah, that’s a lot of it. But the real magic? That happens when you find your people. I got really lucky when I lived in the Bay Area, linking up with a group called GH Entertainment. Imagine throwing the wildest parties with some of the most hard-working artists I’ve ever met – Jay Alves, who started it all, Spooki, Haboob too – across rooftops, warehouses, pools, and all types of experiences with artists we love. At a certain point, none of us had full time jobs — which is hilarious how that lined up, but it made us adopt this “no option for failure” mentality. Aside from throwing parties, it’s like we also shared our music with each other constantly and got feedback. It’s funny how you start out thinking music is this solo journey, but then you realize your best work comes from being surrounded by people who just get it.
These days, I’m also running with Qwerk and Quack under Qwerk Records, founded by Rodney Dinkles and Wooja, with Artsychoke leading the charge. We do everything from fundraising for wildfire relief to late-night chats on Discord, building this digital family that goes way beyond just music.
I’m zeroing on my own path right now, but those collective experiences shaped who I am as an artist. That’s why I’m itching to help build these kinds of spaces as I grow as an artist. Because sometimes the best tracks come from 3am conversations with your people who share the same crazy dreams.
My first multi-genre EP just came out through Quack Squawk Honk, Artyschoke’s label called “Do My Own Stunts” — I feel like it’s the first full release that captures what you may deem my “signature sound”. My official remix for Bayer & Wait’s track “You Can” just came out, with “Simp Harder” on Sacha Robotti’s imprint Slothacid following closely. It’s wild seeing all these tracks I’ve been working on finally hitting the airwaves!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
If you’re thinking about creating music or going down that path, it’s not about fancy equipment or talent. Forget music theory. Past the basics, my piano skills barely translated into composing house or techno tracks. It’s showing up every day and doing the work. My breakthrough came when I joined Cosmic Academy’s bootcamp with incredible mentors like Justin Cohen, Bexxie, Taylor Torrence, and Zack Edward. Suddenly, I had structure, deadlines, and a challenge to create a new track every week. Consistency and thrusting myself into a structure is the only reason I am where I am today.
The real game-changer came afterwards, when I created a group chat of producers and we pushed ourselves to make a track every single day in January “Jamuary Challenge”. That’s when I discovered what I was truly capable of. Some of those tracks actually got signed to labels – and of course, it’s ones that I literally never would have thought gotten signed.
Success in music is like throwing spaghetti at a wall. You never know what’s going to stick, but you have to keep throwing. I work in bursts and can get unfairly unfocused, so it’s about finding out what works for your style: I’ll do pomodoros, or work in chunks, or be productive at 2 am.
Also, be fully, absolutely unapologetic. In what you wear, in the artist choices you make, the decisions in life. Like stop worrying about being too cringe — just do you. I used to be scared of filling sets with my own music. Then I was like, wait…why make music that I’m just not going to play in sets? There’s no point. Be proud of what you achieve, and hurtle forward unapologetically because there’s limited time that we have here, and the world needs as much of your craft as possible before you leave it. I would literally write this message across the sky with a plane if I could. If you’re an aspiring artist or make music at all, send me demos please!
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
That’s a good question….I’d say go all in on your strengths. Being jack of all trades is cool but if you look at who really succeeds, it’s people who have focus and are exceptional at what they do. I don’t think anyone has ever changed the world being mediocre at anything!
Just chase what lights you up, simple as that…but you also have to be passionate about it and you have to love the process. Having been in the journalism, tech, and music industry — all male-dominant, yet what industry these days isn’t — I used to be bogged down by the negatives. All I actually needed to do was find a small community that does exactly what I do, and focus on the process and make it fun. The production group I mentioned did some silly challenges together with completely unserious samples like turtles mating, and I realize I make the most music when I’m having fun or laughing.
Also, as cheesy as it sounds, never change who you are to fit the industry mold, and use who you are to your strengths. I started as a journalist because I loved writing, but I was painfully soft-spoken. Instead of forcing myself to become one of those aggressive, garrulous reporters, I leaned into my strength of building empathy with sources, trust through active listening and thoughtful questions. This led me to score some internships at my dream outlets, and break certain stories before others.
This is also tricky because I think there’s probably a caveat here, the exception being that maybe sometimes weaknesses hold you back from achieving what you want. You probably shouldn’t ignore that. For me, that meant developing this ability to push back, and bettering my skills of speaking with authority and confidence, because that in turn helped me present my ideas effectively. This translates into all sorts of areas in life — probably translated behind the decks too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://l3na.com
- Instagram: l3namusic
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/l3namusic
- Other: https://linktr.ee/l3na_
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7yUivU5QVtYwCXmLW6qmoS?si=E0t1Nj3ZSVqdqXriv_ebcA
Image Credits
Kenny Cordeiro (@kennycordeiromedia), Brandon Greenstone (@BrandonGreenstone), Derek Tang (@derektang.jpg), Frank J Romano (@imjustfrankjr), Gabriella Bavarro (@YourAurelia), Mallie Sovan-Soeung (@35mmallie), Martin Cabrera (@timeconsumingticktock), Raphael Heftman (@raphaelheftman)
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