This is a story about control…no but really. I wanted to become a DJ since I was in middle school. I love curating playlists, picking music, hearing the wordplay and seeing what goes into making a moment. I did college radio by accident, I used to make playlists and burn them onto CDs and give them out on the floor of my dorm, and I always tracked the latest releases and looked for stuff I might not know but sounded cool.
Cue 2020, a deep fast forward later when sitting in the middle of the pandemic I said YOLO and finally ordered equipment because if I was going to be on lock down, if the world was going to end, might as well learn to do something right? So I started and took the free online class, learned about the software, started cleaning up my music files (my personal collection has about 30,000 songs). Still I hated the software I was using. So I kept on, studying DJs and trying to find my place in it all. I especially looked for women whose styles I liked, based on their song selection, the fact that they didn’t have to be a personality to play good music, their techniques…it was all worth watching. Fast forward to 2023, I buy a better setup, get better software, keep learning, study audio engineering in 2024, go to DJX in 2025, and finally in 2026 start doing gigs for other people.
Saturday, July 11th, I was at a women’s fitness challenge. There were two groups, beginner, and advanced. We started at 6am with official activities for the advanced group kicking off at 7am. The sky was overcast, we’d already been rescheduled by rain delay, and the humidity was fogging my glasses so bad that I discarded them.
Music is about community, it’s the women who sang along as they did laps, making it through each station and putting some pep in their step when their song came on. Music is motivation, it’s the last person who asked for afrobeats to push through on their first ever challenge under tough conditions. These weren’t influences, these were everyday working women of all ages and fitness levels trying. Whether it was burpees, or deadlifts, or step-ups, they kept going and when they wanted to give up, the coaches and trainers encouraged them and stayed with them walking arm in arm to the beat.
My goal as a curator and a DJ was simple, to make people feel good while doing a very hard thing. The finisher for every person was 10 pushups, carried out to the best of their ability. The smiles, the sighs of relief, the joy at completing a challenge was a rainbow spectrum across the faces of the women who persevered and made it to the end. It also underscored the importance of a kind word in real time. In addition to playing the music, the hosts asked me to interact with the crowd and the participants. A simple “I see you!” or “you’re looking good out there keep going” was enough to help people smile, or push through to a jog from a walk or to finish strong.
It’s easy to get caught up in life and forget that simple words of encouragement matter. Celebrating wins and telling strangers you’re proud of them makes a difference. And if we can do that and make memories with good music? Even better. MFSB told us love is the message and when it comes to music curation and being a DJ, it’s true. It’s a labor of love but one that makes moving through life that much better.
A link to an excerpt of the playlist is below, it’s about 3hrs but it will get you from warm-up through a workout. If you’re on a fitness journey no matter the state or stage, that’s an inspiration because it’s a choice to keep moving, to make something happen for yourself. Just like the journey from desire to delivery, every step and struggle counts because it’s still forward progression.
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/2026-workout-jams/pl.u-a0a6CZ1VBY
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