Where are you from?

How'd you get up to upstate?

- Yeah, absolutely.

So first I was born in Columbia, which is part of my identity, and something that I really cherish so much.

Right now, I live in Schenectady, which I also love.

I think there's a lot of history.

There's a lot of really cool people, trying to make really big things happen there.

And I'm happy to be a part of it.

- Yeah, I've had a couple of artists from Schenectady on the show and the things they're doing out there have been amazing and the art scene is definitely kicking off.

So related to that, what are some of your creative endeavors?

What do you dive into creatively?

- I like to say that I'm a multidisciplinary artist, so it could be anything from DJing obviously, but I get into graphic design, 3D printing, 3D modeling.

- [Jade] Wow.

- Anything artistic.

And actually right now I'm working on, a little bit of projection mapping.

So we'll see how that goes.

I like to intertwine music and art and science, and technology and see what we can come up with.

- So what inspired you to go down such a creative pathway?

- Absolutely.

I think it's difficult because I studied a lot of science, hard sciences, when I was in college, and I tried to go down that avenue and I realized that without emotion, without art, without something to carry that data, and those facts, it really doesn't go very far.

So I started to realize that it's not just about showing people these numbers, and oh, they're gonna understand or this concept, and they're really gonna get it.

But really why do people care?

The art piece brings emotion.

It brings, some character, something interesting, to the projects because I do feel like part of my culture is to be content, to be happy, even in the hardest times.

That's especially when it counts most to be happy.

And without us trying every day to be happy, it can become very bleak.

So I think trying to work on both sides of the coin, understand science, understand data, math, and then also apply it in a way that's relative to humans, and that you and I can understand, that we can share with other people, we can enjoy with other people, that's the way to go.

- I think so as well and I wanna move into your DJing pieces.

So you DJ, that's what I know you for, all your amazing DJ work, and spreading amazing beautiful music, all over the capital region.

Do you think that that mindset impacts how you DJ and how you choose your music and how you mix?

And if so, how?

- Absolutely.

So I love upstate New York, and sometimes it can get a little bit stale.

Maybe it's the genres, or the same types of people that you always see all the time.

And I wanted to create a space that's more inclusive.

So I generally play a lot of Latin music.

I play a lot of, actually Bollywood music, it's super popular here.

- Yeah.

- And just trying to create those spaces, where they haven't been before.

So I think a lot of that has to do with coming to the US.

I came to New York City and I experienced a wide variety of different cultures and traditions, and ethnicities and languages.

And coming up here I realized that we need a little bit more of that, or at least we have the people here, but they're not constantly represented like in New York City, where you can find any restaurant that you want to.

Up here it's a little bit harder to find those places, but not impossible.

- [Jade] Yeah.

- Especially as we're beginning to do the work, and see this is a really diverse place, and we have a lot of different types of people that are coming and joining us, and trying to make our cities greater, and trying to inject our cities with culture and art, and having it be from different places, and different cultures only makes it richer.

- Yeah and do you think your cultural background comes as a strength, with this being able to spread the accessibility and the diversity as well within your music?

- Yeah, absolutely.

Especially as a woman of color.

I think generally when you think of a DJ, it's some guy up there.

- Yeah.

- Unfriendly.

- Yeah.

- I'm the opposite of that.

I'd love to have a conversation, I like to talk, and mostly everyone is there to have a good time.

- [Jade] Exactly.

- When you're up there, I feel like most of the time I'm thinking about everyone's out here and they just finished their job, and they're just looking for a little break, a little space, and time where they can enjoy time with their friends, and dance, maybe do a little exercise.

And it's just important to work hard and play hard for me.

- Yeah.

And I know there's a lot of fostering of connections within your work, specifically music as well.

And I know you have...

I don't know know if it's a group, or how you would classify it, but I know you have the Paradise parties, and I wanted to have the audience get to know what that is, and why is it important to have a space like that.

- I'm sure everyone that's watching this has been in a place where your friend is getting harassed by some guy, and it's uncomfortable sometimes.

And it can be really dangerous to be a woman outside at nighttime.

Instead of trying to tell ladies that, "Oh, you shouldn't go outside," or "You shouldn't do this," absolutely not.

We're gonna create a space where you are going to be comfortable, and if there's somebody who's trying to ruin your safety or your comfort or something like that, then they leave.

It's not your job to leave, because some guy is harassing you.

So the goal of this was to create a safe space for people who don't usually feel included in the traditional nightlife.

- With the space, how is it, I guess, curated?

Who's involved in it?

What does it look like?

If I've never heard of the Paradise parties, what could I expect going to one?

- Sure, absolutely.

So actually we're working with a few DJs, Lovely Candela, we've got Jonesy, we've got DJ Celeb and myself.

And we work together back to back to make sure that all of our nationalities are represented, all different types of music are represented, and different types of identity, because generally they're fem presenting, but we have non-binary people on our crew.

And as you notice, that's not the normal every day that you see everywhere.

- [Jade] Yeah.

- And it's important for us to not only show that yes, we can do this, but that we're creating a space, that's unique and different, that's creating magic.

It's creating something out of nothing.

- [Jade] Yeah.

- And I think that's important for us to all have a hand in, and it's really been a really good space to meet people who needed that space.

- What do you think as a creative is missing in the capital region for creatives?

And if you do have an answer to that, do you have any idea of how we could fix it?

(both laugh) And that's a big question.

- It seems like it's a million dollar question.

Absolutely.

I think the opportunities are there, and sometimes the collaboration is missing.

- [Jade] Mm.

- I do think a lot of our creatives know each other, and there tends to be not as many different places where you can collaborate.

It's really one at a time.

- [Jade] Yeah.

- So trying to stop putting our artists against each other, but really trying to reinforce each other, and create collectives like we have so that we do properly get our artists paid, and make sure that they get proper recognition.

Because art is a job, it takes a lot of work, it's a lot of effort.

Not just physically, but emotionally.

That's the part that's art, it comes out of you, and it takes a lot to really put all of that, either on paper, or on a computer screen, or whatever your artistic method is.

It takes a lot out of you and people should be rewarded for their efforts.

I think that the trouble lies when sometimes, for me specifically, sometimes club owners are like, "Well, I just only paid this guy this much, so how come you want this?"

And then it becomes, "Well, why did you just work for that little?"

- [Jade] Mm-hmm.

- And that can be applied to any.

"Well, why did you paint this mural for that little?"

"Well, now this guy doesn't wanna pay."

- [Jade] Yeah.

- So I think trying to work on the relationship between the artists and trying to push each other forward is really gonna be very helpful.

But mostly, I just wanna say it's important for us to find joy and not just struggle because life is hard.

I think throughout recent history and everything that we've been dealing with, it can be heavy.

And if we don't find those pockets of joy, to really spend time thinking about, "What do I really enjoy about my life?

What do I like to do?"

And spend time cultivating those things, it can be a little bit sad and depressing.

So trying to create community, and find that joy is really the medicine that we need.

- Thank you for highlighting that.

That is something I try to live by as well.

And thank you for joining us for "A House for Arts."

Thanks, Sonia.

I appreciate you.

- Awesome.

Thank you for having me.

I appreciate it, Jade.