We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kara Ford . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kara below.

Kara , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My mission is bring people together with music. It might sound corny, but I love the idea that music can exude a sound that brings people from all walks of life together. Music is a universal language, and my goal is through the music I play I can help different types of people communicate, feel, and see each other.

The story behind my mission, is that growing up, I was always the type of kid that didn’t quite ever fully fit it. I was pretty much always the only black girl in all of my schooling growing up, and later on realizing that I was queer, I have always in a way been different from the norm. However I think with that experience, I have in way been exposed to different groups of people. To me, it is so fascinating to see differences in and similarities of music these different groups enjoy. Sometimes its more similarities there you would realize.

As I have grown and gained experience as a DJ, I have enjoyed understanding these similarities. It is great to be able to play music at party with many different types of people, that would probably not ever communicate with each other in another setting, but still have everyone on the dance floor dancing and enjoying the music equally.

At each and every event I DJ, that is my goal, because it is so beautiful to see.

Kara , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have always loved music. Ever since I was young, maybe like 13 or 14, I was set on pursuing a career in the music business. I was actually making beats and producing music at this time, so I wanted to get in the industry as a producer. I was however aware that I was not the best music producer, so I was okay with getting in the industry as an A&R rep, or artist manager.

Anyway, I moved to LA after graduated from Purdue in business, and pursued my dream career. I worked on getting a music industry and along the way I realized that DJing could be something I could get into to help supplement income because many of the music industry jobs would pay too low for me to survive off of. I got into DJing and actually came across a DJ agency that was looking to train new DJs. I was lucky enough to learn from them, and because of my music production background, it made a lot of sense to me, and I fell in love with the art of DJing quickly.

So much that I decided to actually pursue a career in DJing. I also saw that there was a hole in the market, there were so few female DJs. I decided that I would start a business around being a professional female DJ, because so many people were looking for that.

It definitely was not the most easy task, I had to get a lot more experience as a DJ, and I also had to maintain my day job at the time as a wine sales rep, because I was not able to make enough as a DJ alone to support myself. It was definitely a busy time. I would work my wine job Monday through Friday, then I was booked on gigs from the agency I worked with on the weekends. I tried to learn as much as I could, I took as many events as I could. I felt a true passion for DJing, and I wanted to get to a point where I could confidently DJ any event. After 4 years of learning and working with the agency, I started my DJ Business, and haven’t looked back.

I am so happy I went through that grueling process of learning the craft, because it truly paid off. I started my business feeling like a true professional, and I felt that I was able to serve clients that were looking for a professional female DJ, which at the time was harder to come across. But the thing that is so cool about this that I actually feel like this was meant for me. It felt like all along I was better suited to start a DJ business than become a music exec. It felt natural and like I was going in the right direction going through that process.

Over the years with my business, I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing clients. They include Zillow, Nike, Disney and Amazon. I am excited to see what other clients I will be able to work with down the road.

When it comes to my work, I am focused on knowledge of all types of music, finding creative ways to out that music together, and doing so the most professional and straightforward manner. When I play music, I want to music to be easy to listen to, to make sense, to not be annoying. And I want to bring people together through that music.

I also strive to be easy to work with and professional. I believe in the DJ world that alone goal a long way.

I am now working on building a team of DJs that I can help book on events through my business. My agency is small, and it will remain small, but I love being able to help clients find an awesome DJ, as well as help DJs get access to amazing events. It has been really great being able to get into it, and I feel grateful to have the business to be able to do so.

I am looking forward to seeing where all of this takes me. It has been a fun journey so far!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Yes the most recent time that I had to pivot is actually a quite interesting story. During the pandemic, which was definitely a time where many of us DJs were out of work, and definitely a bit stressed. I was actually on the contrary given an opportunity to merge my business with an event company conglomerate. At the time, it sounded like an amazing opportunity. So decided to do it, and with this conglomerate, I started a DJ agency called Honey.

It started smooth, and it was very exciting! However over time I felt that I was not fully aligned with the team I was working on this agency with. I also felt that I could have been in a situation where because I was with them, I would not be able to see out my full potential as a DJ, and as business owner. After 8 months of pouring my heart into Honey, and letting everyone know about my new agency, I had to pivot and break ties with conglomerate.

I had already emailed all of my clients about this agency, I had promote the agency heavily, and I had create an immense amount of amazing content with agency. I had to actually pivot pretty hard, and very quickly once I made the decision to leave.

I had to make sure all of my clients knew what was going on, build my business website back up, and basically brand my. business and try to get it as close to how it was before I joined with that team. It was definitely a busy few weeks, but looking back I knew during that time that it was the right decision. I am so thankfully that I decided to trust myself, my skills, and go back to having a business that felt truly in line with me.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I think was has helped me build my reputation, is that I put up a lot of content. I think I probably have more mixes on my website and on youtube than anyone I know. I try my best to show as many as I can what I can do and I think it has definitely helped me have a good reputation.

I also think what has helped, is by simply being nice and genuine. I just try to stay kind, humble, and myself. And I think people notice that.

Contact Info:

• Website: DJKaraLA.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dj.kara/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC05_ffuXP7upb8fmLHwRxKA

Image Credits
Jiro Schneider www.jirophoto.com