We recently connected with Farrah Flosscett and have shared our conversation below.
Farrah, appreciate you joining us today. Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?
So before I really took my DJ studies serious, I had a variety of “in search” for my “pocket” and increased wealth moments. During and after college, I used to work in the industry and night life – just in a different lane – doing bartending and bottle service. And I remember still actively doing that while I was behind the scenes learning to DJ, I was making a consistent amazing living, but naturally I was hoping to smoothly branch off and you know, get a little bit of gig work here and there as a new hungry DJ. I was just coming out of the DJ closet so I still knew I had to hold on to the bar stuff that was making me my comfort zone income. So I overlapped those worlds for a bit.
And then there was a shift. There were a few back to back instances where I was DJing at a lounge on that particular night and people would come over to me and ask- didn’t I just see you last week? Aren’t you are bottle service girl at such and such? or like I would hear people whispering saying “that was our bartender last week ….guess she’s supposedly a DJ too” – that kind of shady thing.
I could just tell that as much as I should’ve felt comfortable to be able to just be respectfully doing both – one that I have been doing for years and had built a great industry rep for myself doing so while making six figures – and two this new love that I found for collecting x digging in the crates and curating sound vibes, that I still found myself stuck feeling as though I had to explain myself in ALL of those moments. My mind decided that it was having a negative affect as to how serious people were able to take me as a DJ. And I didn’t wanna do anything to taint how real my love and heart investment was for it.
I felt I was being viewed and treated as if I was just some kind of pretty girl who knew the right people thinking I could fake the craft and get away with it. That I’m showcasing my attractiveness to gain income or attention in whatever means necessary that I can marketably fit the bill. And because that wasn’t the case, I had to maneuver my lifestyle to ensure I was feeling seen and heard, NOT perceived as a novelty. So I practiced everyday – to become the DJ I myself would hear and think “wow this DJ is a wordsmith, a blend master, a mad scientist, etc” . A collector. A chameleon. I wanted to show my talent and it be undeniable. I wanted to share my music knowledge.
So eventually, it came down to a decision making time for me. What I was gonna do to make sure that happened ….and so I remember I went to bed one night and told myself when I woke up I was going to give my two weeks at all my bar jobs. and I did exactly that.
But with doing that, there was a huge dip in my income that came with it, There was a point in time where I cried quite a bit watching my bank account safety net kind of just dwindle away. I was new in the DJ world and definitely wasn’t getting offered 5 nights a week to gig. Found myself doing quite a bit of pro bono, trying to learn and just participating in the due diligence .Being organic about it to the point where a new place would open and I would offer my services because I wanted to learn – I wanted experience…. And it took awhile for that to even out with actual steady income.
that part was really hard on me because I hadn’t been financially in an unstable kind of a way for a long time. I’d made sure to get myself out of any past holes I put myself in and never go back there, The fact that I actually knowingly chose the starving artist path then got very raw and real And I think now looking back at it, I probably should’ve secured way more DJ gigs in advance over the year of me training myself before I jumped ship on the other industry income. And just not worried about what some random people might whisper. You know – the goal was always reaching longevity for me and that should have been my tunnel vision – not being worried about little snide remarks being said because that was gonna happen anyway, whether I was bartending half the time or not, Just a realistic part of life.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Let me first give credit where it’s SO due ….I grew up in a household with a built-in DJ, who just so happened to be my father, and he actually just retired two years ago and he’s 74 now. pretty cool sh&t, right? LOL. But outside of that, I drew from quite a bit of inspiration that I found when I first moved to the Washington DC area after college, and as much as I said to myself I was going to pick up the craft having been ignited and intrigued by it for two decades and always surrounded by it even at home, it didn’t actually come in to play until I lived with someone who started their DJ journey in the course of us living together. Which ended up blossoming into a whole big DJ world for them. There’s something about watching someone do it from scratch – downloading everything, all the homework and scratch mastering tricks, self taught when there’s no one else to come over and pay them to do it for you. I can’t even count the amount of times I heard them practicing and thought “OOOH I woulda mixed that XYZ with that ABC” …..It became inspiring to me and I ended up really deciding that’s when I truly fell in love with it on my own time and probably about a year after that was the start of my journey, and in that very same house. I would throw house parties just to practice in front of a real crowd. So I think it’s safe to say that that house is a very magical house. Many DC DJ legends have graced that house.
One thing I feel that easily sets me apart from a lot of other DJs in my city is that I’m not from the DC area originally. I didn’t go to middle school, HS or college here. So coming here later in life, I didn’t have the same in-city lifelong growth connection factor and support system that most would as a blossoming artist. Which kinda just segways into a distinguishing aspect about myself that I take a humble pride in- the full misconception that my management team is booking for me, or there are booking agents setting up my gigs. The truth of that is, I’ve never actually had a full on manager or agreed to sign with a booking agency. I’ve had some people in my corner that have pulled strings for me and have had great gestures of others in strong pivoting positions wanting to help me out by referring or connecting me with the right people. I’ve definitely compensated a few individuals out some finders fees for giving me a leg up on some things, But generalized in this context ….I really built this beast by myself and I’m still now even at this level – doing it by myself. And not at all saying that should be everyone’s path, because I have many DJ friends that have flourished incredibly under that partnered guidance, but whether it was the timing, the disconnect with the individuals who reached out to play that role for me, or something else….it just seemed to be the best fit in my world thus far. Somehow it’s just escalated and elevated me to levels of inner strength and independence that I didn’t even think I could ever possibly reach without having someone in the corner connecting major dots for me. Imagine in this huge world of interpersonal contacting methods, that you are always still talking to the artist themselves. No matter how big they get on a worldwide span. It’s almost unheard of. But who knows, I might meet that perfect fit might find me and change my mind on it all….life is forever altering!
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
So many things I could share here – sheesh. Think I’m gonna go with something I (and a bunch of us) were taught at a young age : NOT TO SHOW OFF. Humility is a desirable human characteristic and I love to own it, live it and exude it. Being a part of my family heritage is Sicilian (Italiano), I grew up around a bunch of loud mouth abrasive 24/7 biggest d$$k swinging competitors that were all related. So somewhere in my teenage years and beyond, I realized I liked attention and I loved winning but only the times that it came to me when I wasn’t showing arrogance. Somewhere along the years, that also turned into me not understanding that I could speak about goals, achievements, successes, wins, blessings, and speak highly of myself without it necessarily having to sound vain or conceited. Had to re-teach myself the differences between self assurance and cockiness .- basking and boasting. For some its a thin line of differentiation which actually sucks because they are two opposite energies. I was never taught how to understand the difference. So I chose to always keep my achievements low key and celebrate them within.
I now know – you CAN show off. Your confidence. Your self mastery. Your certainty in yourself. Your shared wisdoms. Part of that individual “show off” falls into marketing yourself!
For sure, this was and is still a lesson I choose every single day to keep unlearning completely. Probably because somewhere in the deepest of my hearts I always want to be that nice, humble, patient girl who doesn’t ever mind giving centrestage to friends and peers and cheering them from the sidelines for their own greatness’s too.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
This one is EASY. It’s the people of the DJ room – whether they are fans, friends or strangers – sharing with you what your music story and/or life journey that you decided to create or share manifested for them that day. I have about 100+ screenshots of personal messages, texts, DMs, of the most heartfelt heartwarming words and expressions from people that experienced a night with me on the soundtrack. I’m literally pulling my phone out right now to read / quote some ….. “my first time here and your vibe made me fall me in love with DC” “you have to go down in history as one of the greatest to ever do it in DC – crushed ti as a cocktail then switched it up and became a DJ and STILL crushing it” “please continue spreading that positive love, energy and good vibes, we need more people like yourself in this space” “thank you for your set tonight! I almost gave up on this city but you reminded me of something beautiful” “I truly admire a set that gives the people a real unpredictable experience and you did just that” “you literally make homebody wanna leave the house with your crazy creative blends and authentic spinning”
One of these days I really need to make a video of all of these and share it! I honestly feel like these personal appreciation messages as music maestros keep us as the DJs feeling inspired to keep inspiring.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://farrahflosscett.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farrahflosscett/?hl=en
Image Credits
Jake Mayo Unique Falcon TJ Pompeo