Turntables Meet Tech: Why I Quit DJ'ing When I Got To LinkedIn

Music is my biggest passion. DJ’ing has been my guide in exploring it for the past five years. I feel the most alive when I am behind the decks, spinning a set that gets my audience on their feet. In short, I enjoy creating experiences that bring people together. I think that purpose was the main driver that motivated me to purchase a one-way ticket from LA to the Bay Area for a contract role as an event coordinator.

I've had the opportunity to perform on stage with eclectic musical artists such as A-Trak and T-Pain in my tenure. On the other hand, I felt my passion for DJ'ing and new job at LinkedIn put me at a crossroad. Do I pursue my musical passion as a DJ or build my career in Silicon Valley? In the end, I decided to put DJ'ing on hold so that I could focus on my professional career and adjust to working life.

I was satisfied in my career growth after a year and half at LinkedIn. However, I felt there was something missing from it all. There’s something about performing for a live audience that truly never leaves you. This feeling brought me to the realization that DJ’ing has always been a part of my DNA. Knowing that, I created a plan that would establish my professional career as a DJ in the Bay Area, This plan guided me to perform at one of San Francisco’s top nightclubs within a year’s time.

I would have never thought that DJ’ing and my professional career would overlap until I started being more open about it at work. LinkedIn’s culture empowered me to be open about my side hustle as a DJ. As a result, people began asking me to DJ for company mixers, intern events, conferences, and recruiting events.

During my time as an event coordinator, people frequently asked me which was my favorite event to plan. It is easy to call out the “Next Play Open Mic” given how much influence music has had in my life. I worked alongside one of our Diversity Program Managers, Lesley Toche, to host a recruiting event that reinvented a traditional open house by replacing guest speakers with performances and music. We hosted over 200 Black and Latinos sales professionals from the Bay Area that included a full lineup of employee performances, networking mixer, and a local headliner. The event resulted with a Net Promoter Score, an event metric used to measure attendee satisfaction, of 97 and one of the highest scores our team has seen for any talent acquisition event held to date. This led us to host subsequent open mic events in New York and back again in San Francisco.

The third open mic in San Francisco was the most memorable one for me. This time, I was asked to join as a performer, rather than a project manager. The lineup that day included dancers, saxophone performance, singers, comedians, and a hip hop violinist. I arrived a couple of hours early to run a full sound check when our VP of Talent Acquisition, Brendan Browne, showed up unexpectedly. “Hey Ish, I’m thinking about going up during the open mic portion and doing some freestyle verses over a beat that I just made. Would you be down to collab and maybe do some scratching over it?” I was overjoyed to say the least. That evening, we rocked the performance along with the lineup to follow up another successful event in the books.

Since then, I’ve continued to pursue my passion for DJ’ing and have built my brand in collaboration with my career at LinkedIn. I’ve got to thank LinkedIn for making me feel comfortable enough to act on my passion within the workplace. I felt encouraged by my peers to continue to build my brand as an entertainer. 

In all, I’ve learned that I truly shine when I bet on my passion, my work aligns to it, and I’m in a workspace that supports me in my growth.

[This blog post is part of a chain of stories that share powerful Open Mic belonging moments. See below for the full sequence of blogs that begin with Lesley Toche's - "What Company Means in Company Culture"]

1. Lesley Toche - What Company Means in Company Culture
2. Mary Martinez - Diversity in Real Life at Open Mic
3. Ashvin Kannan - Open Mic Opened My Eyes
4. Chijokes (CJ) Nwuzi - Why Belonging? Why an Open Mic?
5. Loni Olazaba - Belonging In The Workplace!
6. Ish Verduzco- Turntables Meet Tech

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