We recently connected with DJ Tootz and have shared our conversation below.
DJ , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
So when we were in High school (sophomore year) our older brother dj’d our sweet sixteen. We had such a good turnout, he said “y’all should start djing, it would be so live” We we’re only worried about playin tennis back then so we kept it pushing. Fast forward to college, and we circle back around to the idea. I (Big Tootz) knew this was going to work. I knew we would be big. I knew the picture was bigger than us and that we would inspire so many people. I (Lil tootz) wasent so sure. I just knew I didt want to waste any money on buying the wrong equipment lol. So we searched for a mentor. DJ. Big Sue of K97 Memphis mentored us and steered us in the right direction as far as equipment. Took us about a year to save and get some. Once we had somebasic equipment, we asked Sue to teach us how to dj. She told us we had to do that on our own because babe can’t teach us how to bear music, and read a crowd etc etc. And actually, that was the best advice anybody could have gave us. She taught us then that we have to work hard for the things we want in the music industry, if you really want it. So we hop on YouTube, purchase dj books and just start teaching ourselves. Once we got the hang of it actually mixing two records together, we start we going out to more clubs, but not party like we usually would, but to study the crowds, and see what people like to listen to. We would go home and practice for hours and hours. After our first couple of gigs, word started to travel around memphis about these two twins girls that could dj they asses off. It took a while to actually get out on the “turn up” part of a party, we usually opened up. So some people would miss us. We kept working and grinding and eventually started getting later times slots, then whole parties, then even more interesting events. We did events for U of M, Essence My City 4 Ways, Paris Chanel Balloon Brunches, a host of club and corporate events and events Arabian Weddings. In 2019 we decided to move to Atlanta, GA. And we have been loving it ever since. Atlanta is an amazing city and reminds a lot of memphis. It’s a bigger and better version to us. But nothing about Atlanta is sweet. You have to hit the ground running in this city. We are resident djs at Midtown Beach Club and Cascade Skating Rink. We are on a reality show called “Djs of Atlanta” and we are tour djs for Q.C. Artist Duke Deuce. We sissy’s try to stay busy in this city. We’re even adding more genres to our dj arsenal. We’re now EDM djs.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
We are twin female Djs. We’re open format djs. We play hip hop, rap, edm, top 40 etc. We are based in Atlanta but travel as well. We do clubs, festivals, edm events, corporate, weddings, private events, birthday parties, and more. We will give your events vibes you will never forget.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
We feel like getting out in the field grew out clientele the best. Some events we did for free in the beginning. For example, we did a Womens empowerment event for free years ago. And after that, the lady who booked us for that gave our name to a contact at Essence Music Festival. Which is how we ended up doing that event. Staying busy in your field of work grows your clientele.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
We just started going to all of the parties and taking pictures with everybody. People were tagging us in their pictures which made other people see our pictures, which then made more people follow us. We have 22k now on IG.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/djtootz
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djtootz901/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/djtootz901
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/djtootz901
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCV0RlFSqzn-75a87ATfAvsA
Image Credits
@curtshotme @dewolfprod