Meet Albert Soto of Miami Life Today

Albert, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Growing up in Miami in the 90’s, the social scene during the high school days was pretty much limited to backyard keg parties in the suburbs. There were the typical problems of those times that came hand in hand with those parties. Fights would break out and police would come to end the parties early. People from other schools would come around and try to steal the money made from the cover charge or solo cup sales. I was friends with some of the guys that would organize these parties and was asked to work security at these events for $100 a night. Big money for a 16-year-old. Working security at these parties consisted of dressing in all black and walking around holding a Maglite heavy-duty flashlight. Once there was a security presence, there would rarely be problems. Occasionally breaking up a fight or two a night, but for the most part, it was an easy payday and a good time.

Shortly after starting college in the late 90’s I was looking for part-time work to make ends meet. Most of the jobs that I could find that would work with my class schedule were all minimum-wage labor, which at the time was about $5.25 per hour. I started to work at the school gym but that did not lead to much income. A couple of months later a friend from high school reached out and asked if I was interested in working security with him at the night clubs on South Beach for $18 per hour for a company called P.G. Security. That was a considerable increase in income and was something I could do outside of class time so I accepted the offer. P.G. Security had a near-monopoly of staffing security for all the big clubs.

My main assignment was at Club LEVEL on 12th and Washington, which was one of the biggest night clubs in the country at the time. It was a significant difference in scene from working security at backyard parties in the suburbs. Internationally famous DJs and musicians would play at this venue on a weekly basis. Besides this club we were occasionally rotated to the other venues they staffed like Club BED, Bongos, Rumi, FUEL, and other places on South Beach and Downtown Miami. After they saw that you could handle the job, they also contracted security detail for bodyguarding jobs and music video shoots. What was unique about working for this company was that since we moved around between different places, we got to meet the staff of all the other places; managers, doormen, promoters, bartenders, hostesses, dancers, and everyone else involved. Over time you met a good portion of the nightlife industry. There is a dedicated core of career employees in this industry that basically staff all the top places and a good amount of the main players back then are still in the industry today. Places open and places close, but the staff are mostly the same groups of people.

Eventually, P.G. Security collapsed due to mismanagement and I was asked to work exclusively for Rumi Nightclub on Lincoln Road, which had a very big Tuesday night party with frequent celebrity sightings. I was there for three years and became the security manager and doorman. After that establishment closed, I no longer desired to work for a single venue and was then asked if I was interested in promotions by several places. I worked in that capacity for Suite, Opium Gardens, Santos, Mansion, and few other venues and events. Working in this capacity gave me access to what was going on in different places and allowed me to provide this information to people that would otherwise only get invites from the venue that they typically frequented or from the one promoter they knew.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The challenges have been figuring out the right social media presence. I personally use Facebook more because I enjoy the sharing of content like articles and photo albums, but I feel Instagram provides a stronger interface for the sharing of quick information. That has just been a lot of trial and error. How many things to post a day versus things to put on the daily feed. What hashtags to use, who to tag, etc. Now we have a formula that has been working well for us and doing a good job getting our information out to a large user base.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Miami Life Today – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
What sets us apart is our inclusivity and accessibility. We are a one-stop-shop for everything that is going on in Miami. Which is quite a lot on any given day. Typically you have to look at what is going on the page of the individual venue, individual artist, or individual promotion company. We provide you with all that information in one feed that you can typically get through in about 60 seconds. You can scroll through the feed pretty fast and if anything catches your eye there is a link you can follow to more detailed information of the event of your choice.

We do not live in Miami because of the light traffic, affordable housing, and high wages. We live here because of the weather and culture. People travel from all over the world to experience this and the locals have access to this year-round. I do not know how many times I have heard locals complaining they have nothing to do. When there is so much to do here every day that it is impossible to get around to half of it. A lot of fantastic events take place with poor attendance. We have musicians that have played around the world performing for free on Lincoln Road to a crowd of 20 people. We have local singers that have competed and gone far on nationally televised programs like America’s Got Talent and American Idol performing free shows at local venues to a crowd of 30 people. There are days museums and galleries have free admission that have poor attendance. There are random pop up events where major celebrities do free shows or appearances. Last year Shakira did a free pop up show at the Wynwood Yard. Matisyahu did a free show at Sweet Liberty.  A few months ago 50 cents did a last-minute meet and greet on Miami Beach. A few weeks ago Bob Marley’s band, the Wailers, performed a free show at the Miami Design District Palm Court. We pride ourselves on getting this type of information out there. We get messages from people thanking us after they got to see their favorite artist for free because they saw the event on our feed. Our site also gets the word out on the amazing talent that is based in this city. We have many outstanding local bands regularly playing throughout the city. We have a large number of excellent DJs here that should be on national tours that instead are residents at our local clubs. House music pioneer Ani Phearce plays at Blue Martini Kendall on Saturdays. People drive for hours to hear him spin and he is available to you at your neighborhood Blue Martini.

It has been great to get feedback from some of these DJs that they have gotten booked in other cities or countries because they were seen on our site. It has also been great to hear from some of these bands that they have been hired to play new venues because they have had exposure on our site. So we help the local community, as well as visitors, know what is happening around town and we help the local talent gain exposure. We also feature other genres of events that maybe of interest to the local community. Sporting events, karaoke nights, stand-up comedy nights, fitness competitions, wellness events, culinary events, book fairs, art fairs, music festivals, events at the convention center, special lectures, and so on.

Another thing that is unique about us is our business model. We wanted this to be accessible to everyone, so we have an unorthodox approach to pay for play. Events featured in our feed are based on an open donation system through Cash App ($MiamiLifeToday). There is no set price to be featured in our feed. Large venues and events typically donate what they would normally pay for digital promotions. While smaller venues and up and coming artists donate whatever they can afford. That way new talent and new business owners have access to affordable marketing. Non for profit events that help the community are promoted without donation. We had a young man promote a clothing drive out of his high school for the Bahamian victims of Hurricane Dorian that had good results. Lately, we have been featuring Clean This Beach Up’s events and they have been doing outstanding work with beach clean-ups on Miami Beach. Ultimately this is about uplifting our local community and showcasing it to the world.  Donations to support the site and help promote non for profit community events are always welcomed.