We recently connected with Simon Anthony Mendoza and have shared our conversation below.
Simon Anthony, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
I’ve thankfully been able to earn a full-time living from all of my creative endeavors. Making that happen was a decision that I remind myself everyday that I made.
My artistic journey began as a 3-year old filipino kid growing up in Toronto, Canada taking piano lessons on a paper piano. My parents were devout catholics and brought me, my older brother, and my older sister to church every Sunday. Church music was literally the only music I was exposed to growing up and my parents had enrolled my brother and I in piano lessons. The teacher taught us by using paper piano drawings which probably explains why I was actually terrified of touching a real piano. I always admired my Aunt Tessie for being an expert piano player and her husband was an amazing accordion player. They would always take over the piano at family parties and my Aunt would make everybody sing and my Uncle would accompany her on the accordion. My Dad was really into Elvis at the time, so he bought me a toy guitar and I would always pretend like I was playing with them. Eventually, it turned into everyone just watching me pretend to play guitar as they clapped along to a cassette tape with all the surf rock hits from the 70s and 80s. (Not sure if I was on beat, but I sure was a cute baby!) From then on, my Dad would have me perform at every church and family event. When there was a stage, he’d pick me up, put me on it, throw my toy guitar over my shoulders, and hand a cassette tape to the DJ. I’ll never forget seeing everyone just crowd the stage to watch me and clap along. If it weren’t for these times in my childhood, I don’t think I’d ever be comfortable on a stage.
When I was about to turn 7, my parents told me I was going to have a little sister, and they decided to move us all to Tampa, Florida. Naturally, I had to move schools and I didn’t know what it was like being a new kid yet. From 2nd grade to 5th grade, I had one to two close friends but struggled to fit in. It wasn’t until 6th grade that I started music lessons again but this time with guitar. Guitar felt more my speed and I ended up playing in the Spanish band at my church.
I gained more attention from my friends for playing guitar, then naturally when I hit puberty, I began to want more attention from girls. Playing pop song covers got me a few potential girlfriends, but musically there was still something missing, especially in my rhythm. I also hadn’t yet been introduced to Hip Hop.
In the 7th grade, my Dad made me DJ our family holiday parties for around $20 a gig with a Radio Shack mixer and two DVD players. Initially, I used my Dad’s holiday Christmas cd’s but eventually I had bought my first two cd’s (Backstreet Boys Millennium and Puff Daddy and the Family). “All About The Benjamins” was my first ever favorite hip hop song. During this time, my brother and I had also joined the Civil Air Patrol (similar to JROTC) which began my fitness journey and also gave me a group of older peers that I hoped to become friends with. At one of our holiday parties, I remember seeing a dance circle forming, and as I go to check it out I see my brother in the middle doing the worm (I had no idea he could do that). Secretly my brother rented a book from the library on how to breakdance and he decided to show of his moves at the party. It was from then on that I decided that I wanted to do that too!
During 8th grade, my brother left for the army, but I continued to practice breaking (aka breakdancing) all by myself. At every school dance, I was always making a circle to bust out some moves and always brought glow sticks to put in my shoes!
I had a very hard time moving from my Catholic middle school friends to making new friends in public high school. Private school we wore a uniform, but public school I had the freedom to dress however I wanted. My freshman fashion sense was hip-hop influenced but definitely cringeworthy. When Sophomore year came around, I finally had the confidence to practice dancing in the hallway while people walked to class. Rumor spread that I was dancing in the hallway which led me to meeting my first breakdancing friend Robert Torres. He had a move I always wanted to learn which were called “flares”. Rob had a deep knowledge of hip hop history, hip hop elements, and he practiced breaking almost every day, so he invited me to start practicing with him and his brother John. As we got better, we formed our first crew “FloorEssence”, which later changed to the name “Break Junkys” and entered and won many state-wide competitions.
Breakdancing leveled up my reputation in high school and everyone knew who we were. During Junior year, we got in trouble for breaking into the auditorium to practice, but instead of punishment the drama teacher allowed us to practice during lunch hours and eventually casted me in West Side Story and the King and I. This caught the attention of the choir teacher too who convinced me to audition for Show Choir. I had two very successful years dancing, singing, and playing instruments for show choir competitions all-around the country and I was still entering breaking competitions.
After graduating high school (and also winning Senior notable “Most Talented”), I got a scholarship to University of South Florida. I had no idea where and how I would make new friends, so I would just hit the gym between classes to practice breaking. Facebook and Myspace were the only social media those days, so I used Facebook to scout for any potential b-boys (breakdancers) or dance crews. I joined a dance crew called Formula X and I also started my own breakdance club. As much fun as I was having, I still didn’t know where breakdancing would take me.
During my 2nd year in college, I was struggling with money and picked up a job as a sushi chef which I also became very good at. Throughout this difficult period, I reconnected with Rob Torres from high school; and he booked a job being a breakdancing acrobat at Busch Gardens theme park in Tampa. I auditioned but didn’t make the cut. So I started breaking for college dance competitions and joined the Filipino Student Association to enter the Def Talent Jam competition. . It wasn’t until my 3rd year in college that I was called to audition for Busch Gardens again…and due to all my performing experience from competing, I made the cut! 2007 I booked my first paid acting role in a Halloween show and eventually became a breakdancing acrobat. Because me and Rob were a very rare breed of dancer/entertainer, we were high in demand at the park and they made us full-time performers with a 401k (which I didnt know what that was at the time) and health insurance. It was my Junior year in college and I decided to drop out. I also left my part-time sushi job!
From then on, I learned how to make money in entertainment and most importantly how to be an independent contractor. I went through plenty of years where I didn’t know how I would make my next paycheck dancing and also went a few years not knowing how to handle my taxes as an independent contractor. Thankfully, working as a performer connected me with more experienced entertainers who showed me how I could make a living off anything artistic. Once I figured out how to audition, promote myself, and write professional-looking emails, I knew my possibilities would be endless. I was no longer afraid to attack any opportunity to make money with any of my talents, so that is exactly what I did. I’ve managed to make a living off every talent I’ve learned growing up…leading to multiple sources of income.
Knowing how to present myself and market myself as a professional entertainer and musician has brought me on tours around the world on some of the biggest stages I’ve ever seen and also on the big screen! I now have celebrities that know me by name from tv & film jobs and I even teach their kids how to dance! (Ask Trent Reznor, Lisa Loeb, and Zooey Deschanel!)
In the end, there’s nothing I would’ve done differently to get where I am now. Not only did I expand my skill set, but I also expanded my income streams with music production, song-writing, and djing.
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 started a music production business in 2018 when my Dad passed. My knowledge of business and music theory helped…but nothing like your parent passing away that will light a fire under your ass. I recorded my first whole studio album and went deep into the world of record producing, however, during the pandemic is when I realized I would need something efficient and lucrative that I could accomplish from home…which sparked my interest in sync licensing. I began making hip hop and edm beats throughout the pandemic and thanks to a colleague in the dance industry, I became an in-house music producer for an ad agency that created Tik Tok commercials for the restaurant Checkers & Rallys. After a successful year and when businesses started opening back up at the end of 2021, I opened my own music studio in Van Nuys. During my years working with the ad agency, I also reconnected with an old college friend Sasha Brens who became a full-time working DJ (and is currently my business partner!)
While commercial music business was good, it was very sporadic, so I decided to DJ full-time to make ends meet. I began djing for a few dj companies in LA, but things really picked up when I decided to partner my business with Sasha’s company Amplified Entertainment which she ran with her other business partner Maxwele Depaula.
Now being a business partner with Amplified Entertainment has opened up a world of opportunity with djing, party planning, sound engineering, music/video producing, and also breakdancing. We DJ for all kinds of events including weddings, mitzvahs, and school parties, and we even DJ for corporate parties and events for companies such as Disney, Netflix, Google, and Universal Studios. Some of our biggest clients include Travis Scott, Kanye West, Adele, Dr. Dre, and The Kardashians!
What sets us apart is our professionalism and customer service mentality mixed with star quality and some of the highest vibrations you will experience at any event. Our song choices and mixes will literally AMPLIFY your events…and I’m very proud of the fact that I’m doing this with some of my closest friends.
I’m not sure what is next for Amplified Entertainment except for more growth and constantly climbing to the top of any venture. What’s next for me is DJing around the world and back! #iLoveLA
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
Every human being has the possibility to be creative. The moment you accept your habits, your traits, your past, you can then create a life that you author from scratch as long as you understand that what life exists of is people.
We typically would narrow down our social structure to only the people that believe in us and love us, But the more people I can relate to artistically, the more people will feel my art whether they like me as a human or not… because at that point, its not about me the human being, its about the creation. There is so much art that I like but I don’t prefer the artist. Or vice versa. Being aware of this is powerful and by creating something good, we’re creating something of God.
Our creative being is within us all along, and we need to do whatever it takes for us to believe in our own creativity. Do good creative work, and be good people. Be good, do good.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I had to unlearn is that I needed to work for money…and I had to reframe my mindset to “making my money work for me”.
Starting out in entertainment, I kept the mindset of an employee for the longest. I had no idea that what I needed to be was an entrepreneur.
At the beginning of my career, I was a performer but remained an employee for the majority of my first ten years under companies that hired me. It wasn’t until I moved to LA in 2014 that I realized I should only be an employee to myself and my brand.
Once I began to level up my pricing with my self-realized value, my money situation got way better. I would think in detail about how much work I put into each project, and also how much worth and value I added whether it be a DJ gig, songwriting session for an artist, or even a breakdancing gig.
When it came to money, I knew that money shouldn’t be what you think about when purchasing. Its about WHY you want the thing and its value to you. If its aligned for you to get it, you will get it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.amplifiedla.com
- Instagram: @simonvincible
- Facebook: Simon Anthony Mendoza
- Linkedin: Simon Anthony Mendoza
- Twitter: @simonvincible
- Youtube: Simonvincible
- Yelp: Simon Mendoza
- Soundcloud: https://Soundcloud.com/simonvincible
