We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jourdan Taylor a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jourdan, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
The most important risks I’ve taken as an artist were the ones that were borne out of opportunities that I wasn’t sure I was qualified enough to take advantage of.
I began DJing at 12 years old. As a child/early teen it was difficult to be taken seriously in professional circles. By my late teens I was frustrated that I had developed and polished my skills for years and had nothing to show for it. I believed that I was “good enough” to perform on stage – but realistically I had zero experience.
Practicing in your bedroom with nobody watching is the largest margin of error you could probably have. Being on stage left no room for error – everyone in attendance would be listening closely on the highest quality sound systems imaginable. The sounds clashing together would grate teeth, make people cringe, and give the audience a very visible confusion. This immediate feedback upon the performer can create cracks in their confidence, leading to more mistakes.
When the opportunity first came for me to perform on stage I didn’t quite understand the gravity of the situation. A friend of mine, a rapper named Juice Bruns from the Towson, MD area, needed a DJ for his upcoming shows and asked if I would perform with him. Within a few short months I found myself on the stage of the Howard Theatre in DC. A historic venue, the capacity was over a thousand people. Up until now, I had only performed in small bars and restaurants – I wasn’t even 21 yet.
We were enlisted to open for a pop artist named Blackbear, whom I hadn’t heard of at the time. The tickets for the performance sold out. Hundreds and hundreds of people, mostly women in their early 20’s, were filling the crowd ready to see us perform. I really did not understand the weight I would feel, the anxiety, the pressure to be perfect. “Not making mistakes” wasn’t good enough – we had to impress, we had to go far above and beyond what you could ever realistically practice for because you simply cannot develop stage presence until you are on-stage.
The performance was flawless, we were invited to perform there several more times, and the rest is history.
But I never, ever, could have truly been prepared for that experience. I just knew that it was what I wanted, so I took the risk and it paid off. It could have gone horribly wrong – but it also could have gone terrific. I knew that I was risking embarrassing myself in front of tons of people but that wasn’t really the focus at all – I was focused on the chance I had to be what I always wanted to be, a successful DJ that has performed live on a big stage.
Jourdan, 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?
My name is Jourdan Taylor. I’m a 26 year old writer, producer, and DJ.
Digital Media Specialist, Content Creator, and much, much more. Social Media Management & Analysis, Writing, and Music Production started out as my hobbies and became my passions. Now, they’re my career.
I’m a Baltimore-native content-creator, music producer, and social media manager. I got my start in media at a historic, black-owned, woman-owned local newspaper, The Baltimore Times. While I was reporting there, I was invited to Facebook Headquarters in Manhattan along with reporters from the AP, NYT, and Buzzfeed to attend a civics summit discussing the spread of misinformation on the internet, and our duty as journalists to intervene. I was also invited to receive procedural training on best practices when advertising on Facebook and Instagram using Meta API. Before leaving, I assisted in writing a grant for The Baltimore Times that helped them receive a $25,000 endowment from the Facebook Journalism Project. The funds were used to create a journalistic internship program for communications students at nearby Morgan State University.
I was fortunate enough to find work at a prestigious non-profit issue advocacy company called the Hub Project. At the Hub, I trained with leading industry professionals and nationally recognized political advisors to develop educational campaigns devoted to informing potential voters about the policies that would affect them. I helped facilitate the creation of these ads in several swing states, such as Arizona, New Hampshire, Nevada, Vermont, Wisconsin, and more.
Currently, I’m an associate media manager at Mosaic North America, a full-service ad agency specializing in digital and experiential marketing across the U.S. and Canada. I work hands-on with Fortune 500 brands like Impossible Foods, Amazon, Nestle Coffee Partners & etc., launching, optimizing, and reporting on digital ad campaigns across retail media networks.
I’ve been DJing since I was 12 years old, producing since 15. In my spare time, I produce original compositions of music and perform them live at concerts and shows. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel up-and-down the east coast and even into Canada for bookings. To commemorate those moments, I began to write about them in accompaniment with photos taken at my shows. That hobby grew into me interviewing other artists about their experiences and pitching them to magazines as a freelance writer.
You’re most likely to find me binge-listening to the Bodega Boys’ podcast, making beats in the studio (the desk in my living room), or front and center at a musical performance of any genre, anywhere in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
The most important resource has simply been my therapist. Therapy, communication about my mental health and my challenges has opened my mind to an entirely different life for myself that I did not think was possible. Discussions about my fears, anxieties, difficulties as well as learning to celebrate my talents and my victories has made me a different person.
A specific resource I would recommend to those who are unable to attend a therapy session would be to study cognitive behavioral therapy in as many different mediums as you can – there are a ton of free resources on platforms like reddit and youtube. Textbooks and workbooks were very helpful to me, I didn’t actually write in the book very often but the exercises were excellent to think through.
If none of the above is possible, if I had to choose one single resource, it would be the book, “Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I grew up in immense poverty. My family has lost our home more times than I actually can remember, and I genuinely don’t know how many temporary houses I have lived in. Still, my family remained together. We were living in motels in secret, none of my friends or family really knew about our situation.
I was DJing with my friend Juice and we had been booked to perform out of the country, in Toronto, Canada when I was 19. I was able to obtain my passport and scrape up enough pennies to join the trip. Part of the expenses were paid by the booking agents, so – Juice, myself, our band and photographer – we rented a van and drove there from Maryland to save as much money as possible. I had the time of my young life.
DJing and producing got me through every period of homelessness we ever had. My poor laptops I used until they were on their last leg. My equipment that I treasured and looked after better than myself. It was all I had, physically, mentally, emotionally. Art and my dedication to it kept me alive through many of my darkest times.
The last time we were homeless really was the *last* time. Since then, I’ve been successful enough to move out on my own and still help support my parents financially.
Contact Info:
- Website: linktr.ee/jourd
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilcontent/
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jourdan-taylor/
Image Credits
All Photos by Gustavo Marinho (@mr_gustavo on instagram)