We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mike Woo and Ardi Samonte a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Mike Woo and Ardi Samonte thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Back in 2016, I was graduating college and moving back home to San Francisco. I started working a job I didn’t really like and that didn’t fulfill my passion or my purpose. I was also going through a lot of personal changes and my mental health was not the best. It was a confusing time. I remember the only times I felt “free” or “normal” was when I would go out with my older friends to the parties in the Mission district and the Tenderloin. It was a beautiful thing to see people of all races, social class, genders, beliefs come together for a few hours to rap our favorite songs and dance the night away. It felt like a genuine community of misfits. These parties helped me get through some of the toughest times of my life which eventually made me want to create FRIENDS SF.

This project was to build a community where people can feel safe to forget about the bad stuff happening in their lives or to come celebrate the small wins in their lives. It’s purpose was to provide a safe haven and a place for self expression for people who might be going through some tough stuff just as those parties I previously attended provided for me. We are all your FRIENDS. – Mike

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?

I am MIKEWOO and I am the founder of FRIENDS SF. I am proud to be a San Francisco native and I have used the diverse culture in the Bay Area to cultivate my creativity and my grind. I have been a DJ for 7 years and I take pride in being able to mix and blend multiple genres of music. I grew up listening to a wide range of music from oldies to rap to R&B to house to disco and everything in between. I like to think outside the box and try to do things that might not be the norm to others. When I first started out, not a lot of venues would book me because I was new. The industry was very different 7 years ago and I had a lot to prove. I was able to create my own mixes via SoundCloud, network around different venues in the Bay Area, and create genuine relationships with people in the industry. This opened doors for me. Our first FRIENDS SF event was on a Sunday at a local bar called Hometown Heroes in South San Francisco. With my team, we were able to hustle and bring people to this event. This tested our grit and our resilience which eventually was noticed by others and led to bigger and better opportunities.

I am Ardi and am half of the FRIENDS SF leadership. I am also known as Party Ardi, a Filipino-American DJ/emcee and proud “Baydestrian” from Vallejo, CA. People tell me I am known for my high energy and charismatic creativity. I really enjoy providing a wide range of music in my sets. I’ve been a musician for two decades now learning a myriad of instruments ranging from the drums all the way to classical guitar and now DJing. I started DJing in 2018 where I fell even more in love with music. As a co-leader for FRIENDS SF, I feel like I brought a lot of organization and systematic thinking to what we do. My professional background is also in education and event planning. Learning how to translate that work to our group was very easy for me. I try my best to provide intentionality to our team’s planning while also supporting Mike with all of the administrative work that goes behind throwing an event or party. You can bank on the fact that almost all of the contact lists we have, internal/promotional emails we send, and social media promotions and marketing have some degree of me in the background of it all. As much as I love being a DJ, I love applying high level event planning and organization to what we do. I feel like it elevates us as a group.

FRIENDS SF is not just your normal DJ group that throws events and parties. We’re composed of 6 DJs, 1 photographer/videographer, 1 content creator and 1 graphic designer. We’ve quickly learned our team has a wide range in music taste. Our respective styles can fit into each other’s in a way that makes sense. It never feels forced and blends all genres seamlessly. We can do hip-hop functions, electronic music raves, R&B day parties, the vibey lounges, weddings/corporate events and everything in between – and we mean it. We’re FRIENDS first & DJs second. Over the past few years, we’ve definitely made our working relationship a true friendship expanding not only the DJs but our content team as well. We’re really about putting on strong events that cater to the communities we’re a part of and we’re really about supporting each other individually and collectively. Every great party comes with great friends & great music – that’s FRIENDS SF.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

When I first started FRIENDS SF – the goal was very different to what it is now. Our goal six years ago was to get the biggest bookings, play the hottest parties, and throw the coolest events. As time went on things started to change. As the leader of the collective as well as being a DJ – these external goals only had me wanting more. I was never satisfied with what we achieved and I kept looking to the future. This hindered my ability to genuinely create.

I took some time to ask myself – why am I doing this. What was the bigger purpose of FRIENDS SF? The answer was clear. The mission and the goal was always to build community organically. As a team, we come from all walks of life going through different challenges and obstacles but when we come together we feel as one, a big family constantly supporting each other. Looking outwards to our events – we see that we’re able to create a safe space for people to socialize, dance, express themselves, and most importantly have fun. This allows people to come back to our parties and we’re able to build genuine relationships with our party go-ers. It’s amazing to see something that started as an idea blossom into something that is greater than itself. – Mike

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

As 2021, and simultaneously COVID-19, was starting to simmer down, our founder Mike was at a crossroads. Energy towards FRIENDS SF was low and it was very hard for Mike to find it necessary to continue the brand and group. He later on admitted that he was ready to “go solo” sort of like a lead singer going solo from a boyband project. A huge pivot needed to happen here for the brand to continue. Mike needed to bring on new people that he felt fit the vision of FRIENDS SF and would be willing to put in the work to help us grow. Otherwise, FRIENDS SF might not exist at all.

At the start of 2022, Mike reached out to me and Nunu (also known as the queen of FRIENDS SF) to join the team. Without hesitation, we both accepted the offer which then instantly felt like a new era and season of FRIENDS. Original members, such as 143.Tommy, Namdosean, & MF.Charlie, welcomed the new members with warmth and support. Slowly and over time, our new team dynamic started to mesh along with our new content team Kat Alcaraz, Joe Maloof & Nate Abellera. By this year, our crew’s organization and events grew exponentially giving us opportunities to play at some of San Francisco’s best event spaces such as The Midway, 1015 Folsom, F8, Madrone’s Art Bar & so much more. I’m proud to be Mike’s official partner for FRIENDS SF. Working together on music has been effortless. As we celebrate 6 years of FRIENDS SF this year, I know the next 6 will only show we’re a group that isn’t going anywhere, but up, anytime soon. – Ardi

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendssf_/
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@friends_sf

Image Credits
Nate Abellera @nateeezy