Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Seb Lizarazo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Seb, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I’ve always had the creative gene, it was just a matter of time. Growing up I used to watch a lot of “Art Attack” so you could say my introduction to the creative world was through visual art. It’s what I mainly focused on when I was growing up – I took oil painting and pencil drawing classes but all of that stopped when I reached my teenage years.

That’s when I started getting really into music, I went to my first live music show at 13 and my life changed. For a while I was obsessed about finding the newest indie bands out there and used to go into all the obscure indie blogs looking for new music. During my teenage years my music taste started to develop, it started with Rock and Metal but it wasn’t until I moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil in my late teens where I really started getting into electronic music.

Since then my life within the music scene has taken me in many different directions. After numerous amounts of playlist making and CD “burning”, I started realizing people really dug the stuff I showed them. I must’ve been around 18 when I started thinking that maybe I had what it took to actually make a room of people dance. And that was the whole thing with DJing… I asked my self a “what if” question. What if my music taste was groovy enough that I could make crowds move? That was an interesting goal to me so I went after it.

Seb, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a multidisciplinary arts professional. I went to school at Northeastern University for Marketing and Advertising and that’s where I have worked for most of my life. Until about a year and a half ago I stopped feeling inspired within the advertising world and started to seek out something else. That’s when I fell into the world of Experiential and since then I help brands reach goals through events, brand acts, websites, anything you consider an “experience” the agency I work at (NVE) makes it.

My music project is Disco Bogotá, my stage name. I have been DJing for 8 years and played in a few corners of the American corner. I have played gigs nationally from California to New York and internationally in Colombia and Mexico. On paper I offer music curation services for nightclubs, bars and other types of events. However I always say my main goal with DB is simple, get people to dance.

Through Disco Bogotá I am growing my very own artist collective called Disco n’ Friends, we have hosted events for the last 5 years and it’s usually the summation of a lot of different creative fields being displayed under one roof. We’ve worked with painters, photographers, and even tattoo artists. We host events once every couple of months at different private and public venues in NYC.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Look its no mystery that life can be hard for everybody in its own ways. As a DJ and event producer I have the chance to make people forget about their problems.

When I am on stage and I see that people are laughing and dancing and having a good time – that’s the energy I thrive on. I want to provide an environment where people can let go and find a safe haven from whatever their daily life stress is.

Very similar in event production, just being able to create a space that engages people and foster connection among guests is very rewarding. I know of people that went on dates after meeting at one of my events. I know of people that were having a sh*tty week until they heard my set. The power to influence people’s mood positively is what keeps me coming back.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

This may be a hot take but a lot of the rhetoric around the creative industries can be very demotivating. You hear a lot of “only 1% of people make it as a creative” or “music is a cut throat business”. I feel I’m on a mission to debunk both of these statements.

My DJ path has been completely independent and thankfully I have a job that pays the bills in an industry that I am also passionate about. So I have plenty of different goals in both my career paths. When I came to NY 8 years ago I felt very intimidated about stepping into this scene but over the years I have met incredibly supportive people and let me say the DJ community is smaller (and supportive) than one thinks.

My goal with Disco n’ Friends is to build a community of nonconformist music and art enthusiasts looking to escape the mundane. As a DJ I want to be part of the music fabric of NYC and I would love for my talents to keep taking me to other states and internationally. And last but certainly not least, as an experiential strategist I want to look into how I can keep helping brands of any kind reach their goals concerning consumer events and potentially sneak in some music identity and music supervision services in there.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/discobogota/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebliz/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@disconfriends
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/discobogota