I started tinkering with mixes back in high school, when I diverted time away from my studies to make jazz remixes of hip-hop bangers—think Dave Brubeck layered on top of Notorious B.I.G. My mother was insistent on me learning classical piano. So for about a decade, I practiced almost every day and took lessons with a rigorous Russian instructor. This time didn’t teach me to appreciate music but it did teach me to understand it.

Appreciation would come much later, in my late twenties, when I had the freedom to inquire about music that spoke to me directly. Before that, though, I had go through a hording phase, where it was my mission to possess a hard drive of every song, all meticulously organized. Now, I’m still meticulously organized but my library is deeply personal. It took years for my brain to accept that my library only had to make sense to me. I think that had a lot to do with my momentum as a DJ in the last few years.

For the most part, I DJ renegade parties, which I often am also hosting. I enjoy building powerful sound systems and love how speakers sound outside.

I’m also a software engineer and I contribute to a utility called Trackquisition. Trackquisition is a workflow-management tool that makes acquiring tracks easier. Think of it like an extension of Spotify that helps you cross-reference your own library before making it easy to purchase and acquire the track.