Today we’d like to introduce you to Katrina Karyofyllis.
Katrina, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
It all started for me in Ottawa, Canada, my hometown. After high school, I started bartending, which got me into the nightlife. I have always loved house music and used to go to a lot of shows and festivals around Ottawa and Montreal. I had a lot of friends who were DJs and I bought a little controller after a weekend in Montreal, I was inspired, and I wanted to learn. I started by playing at parties for fun. A good friend of mine, Ilon is a DJ and also owned the nightclub I worked for at that time. He let me use the club when it was closed to bring my equipment to practice. From there I got gigs in my city and it moved pretty fast for me, I started playing in clubs and then landed my job on the radio station Jump 106.9 in Ottawa. I had a five-hour mix show every Saturday night. I worked there for about three years up until I decided to move to Miami. Radio helped me learn very fast and also helped me gain exposure in my city. I started producing music and this became a career for me.
I have always loved Miami. The first time I came here, I knew I wanted to live here. I felt like I did everything I could in Ottawa, I wanted a change and to go somewhere where the house music industry is very present, and Miami was perfect. It was a very easy decision for me to come here. I packed my bags and decided to just go and see what happens. I have been in Miami for three years now. When I first moved here, I was working on radio as well. I had a daily show on Revolution 93.5 for some time. Eventually, I decided to focus more on playing gigs and releasing music rather than radio. The big change from Ottawa to Miami was not easy at first but it has paid off and I am very happy with where I am at in my career. Miami has been great and is now my home. The music scene here is amazing and there is always something going on pretty much every day of the week. I have a few residencies like the one hotel rooftop. I play there every Saturday during the day. On weekends I am a resident at Jane inside CHICA. I play at many other venues and events as well.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not a smooth road, but worth it. Good things in life do not come easy, but they feel so much greater when you end up in a place that you dreamed of. In the beginning, learning everything, mixing, radio and producing wasn’t easy, especially doing it all at the same time, but I had a lot of fun doing it. Having to step outside my comfort zone, pretty much every time I played or went on air, that was a challenge for me, but it got a lot easier with time. The excitement was greater than being nervous. Most of the obstacles came when I moved.
Coming to a new country where I really didn’t know anyone was hard, also figuring out how to get a work visa, which I did after I moved, that was very complicated and took many months. Then waiting to see if you get accepted, knowing if you don’t you have to leave. Those months felt like years. It was very hard, especially being alone. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy and I didn’t have anyone to guide me through it either. A lot of surprises and moments of discouragement, but if you want something bad enough, you don’t give up. I knew what I had to do. I stayed motivated and hoped for the best. After I received my visa, I focused on going out, meeting people and trying to find places to work at. Luckily everyone was so welcoming here in Miami and I have such a solid group of people in my life now, I really consider them family. Most of my friends are DJs here. We really support each other and play shows together.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I am known as Katrella, my DJ name. I specialize in house and tech house music. I have been able to do well in my music career by being able to adapt to what style of music the venue and crowd want for the night. I have a lot of music knowledge and thousands of songs, which I update on the regularly. I have found my sound which a lot of DJs struggle with at first, and I have been able to maintain a great balance of both. If you want to do this as a career, you can’t be stubborn and only play what you want to play, it’s about balance. I have taken many jobs all over the map with an open mind, and that has helped me not only become better on the technical side but comfortable in any situation of a crowd that is in front of me. You need to keep your clients happy, the listeners entertained and know what you want as an artist, at the same time. This is one of my strengths.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I think devotion and ambition are the most important. I love what I do and because of that, I am super motivated to work towards my goals. Motivation and loving what you do, in any situation is always important for success. If you don’t like your career, I imagine you wouldn’t want to go to work. I wake up everyday excited to work, that is important and is why I have reached a lot of my goals.
Contact Info:
- Website: djkatrella.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djkatrella/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/djkatrella
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/djkatrella
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