I’m from a mid-tier city in the middle of America (Omaha, Nebraska). I was like a hometown hero in the DJ scene there. Won awards, had my own club, did a big NYE send-off party at a theatre before I left.

But here, I don’t have a crowd. I didn’t go to high school with anyone. Nobody really cares about all that stuff I did.

And that’s absolutely perfect — I get to do whatever I want, however I want, and whenever I want to — with no expectations.

See, at 41, I’m an elder Millennial. And I have stories.

In my time, I’ve taken Ron Trent record hunting before being his warm-up DJ at the anniversary of my club. After a gig with Kevin Yost, I spent 6 hours of quality time in my car with him as I drove him to St. Louis after his flight was cancelled. I went pizza shop hopping around Brooklyn with Nickodemus before doing a set with him at the late-great Cielo nightclub. Even got to shake Frankie Knuckles hand.

Name-dropping can be fun. But what’s more fun is bringing joy to people on a dance floor. Connecting people through music. Helping them to shake off stress and trauma through movement (just like a wild animal shakes to process the trauma after getting chased).

In those moments, it’s not about whom you know, how many TikTok followers you have, or if you have the freshest, most unreleased music. The only thing that matters is … are people having a good time?

At the end of the day, that’s what I’ve spent 24 years of my life doing. And to that end, as long as it remains fun, I’ll keep going.