Meet Ericalandia

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ericalandia. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ericalandia below.

Hi Ericalandia, 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?

I haven’t! I totally have insecurities. One of the things that seems to help is letting my internal compass drive the ship. By that, I mean I let my passion for music shout louder than the fears. I focus on my true motivation, (which is an intense dedication to curating good energy in my role as a vibe controller) upstage any shaky personal beliefs or negative thoughts. Plus, I create myself a little force field bubble in the dj booth too. So when photogs swoop by, I don’t freeze. I’m just suspended in space, in a zone doing my thing,

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?

New Private Event/Wedding dj website launched! I’ve been a full time, professonal dj since 2010. It’s so satisfying to get to review my path and reflect on having the fortitude to ride out the mystery adventure of trailblazing into a career that did not exist…at it’s literal inception of existence. It’s been kinda wild to realize I did that. Along the way, I’ve never let myself get pigeon-holed.. into one genre or one type of djing. I let my musical interests lead me and I always landed ahead of the curve, I think because I allowed myself diverse musical interests and kept an open mind. So that’s me.. I’m the ‘cool dj that also does weddings’. I traverse a larger spectrum than most, from Coachella to opening for your favorite pop stars, to making sure corporate, private events, brand launches and weddings have a cool, fun vibe. Since I’m a woman in a very male-dominated industry (and the wedding industry even more % than other facets of djing), I’m a unicorn! It’s fun being a unicorn. I like being a go-to for clients who are open to, or even request a woman to dj an event. Because then I get to come with my Bay-Area honed skills (very serious business, the bar for dj skills in set very high in SF) and end up way above the average. Also, I look to place myself in meritocracy-environments and with people who want tastemaker quality. So, my business and bookings are rooted in call backs, referrals and my reputation. People come to me because they know they are safe, or they have a good feeling about me and my work ethics. I’m always trying to curate each experience to hit the bullseye and touch everyone in a room. I feel super lucky that’s the way it has played out, in reality.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Professionalism. Professionalism. Professionalism. From what I’ve seen, dj/artitsts/freelancers may underestimate the importance of professionalism. You can have great skill, great taste, great curation, great style & artistic mojo but, the element that may well give you the edge on top of those things: Can you answer an email within a 24 hour period? Is your phone on? Do you have a website? Are they up? Do they answer questions for your clients and convey your style? You responding to dms and texts – or any of the channels the inquiries are coming into? Lol. I have found first and foremost, being friendly, open and honest in the process is a win. Being responsive, communicative and punctual with conference calls, contracts, invoices and emails – all crucial stuff that makes a creative stand out, makes people feel safe, heard & taken care of. I absolutely LOVE when wedding or private events designers tell me I was their easiest vendor to work with on the entire team. It’s a lot of vendors that get hired for these events and I love that compliment. Being punctual with communication creates an ambiance where people are more relaxed and then I get to be myself and exude the sense of integrity I have and my interest in wanting to create elevated environments for people to enjoy.
Beyond professionalism.. the other super poignant aspect of my career is artistic repertoire. I’ve gotten clear on having developed a wide musicologist-level palette of music knowledge from being a radio host, breaking new artists to being a music magazine journalist. Much of my time is spent in the vein of searching out new, interesting music, and remixes to breathe life into the wedding and private event formats, event corporate events too.. Living in SF, NYC and LA all served to broadening the scope of what I am capable of, knowing and understanding different crowds and combinations of people.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Absolutely! It was such an eye opening experience to create my new website. It took me several months to track down all the photos from photogs, match them up with emails and thank you letters from clients and funnel it all into one site. What I realized is that when it comes to weddings and private events. I may pay rent in LA but by far, 90% of my weddings are destinations. I love to travel. In the same breath, I would really would love to connect with event designers here in Los Angeles and also venues who are open to trying out someone new. Extra credit if there are venues that know their dj vendor list is male dominated and are looking to diversify offerings. On this particular facet, the main through-lines on my clients are these: Clients coming to me because they want an ‘artsy dj who does weddings vs a career wedding dj’. Clients who were only offered a dj vendor list that included no women. Clients who saw me at a huge event (like the NYE Ball Drop DTLA). Clients who googled or found me on a reddit thread when searching for a female/woman wedding dj. Zooming out, I’m looking to work with people who are down to give me a try & they get a good feeling from my website, because I think it’s a really strong representation of me and my work.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Erin Wesley, Farah Sosa, Bichuda and Chrisman Studios

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