DJ Raquel

I started DJing when I was about 11 or 12 years old. The first time I DJed was at Salt Bowl (a huge game between rivals Bryant and Benton) at a booth my dad’s job was running at the big pre-Salt Bowl tailgate party. He put me in charge of the music, which was playing off of his phone, and I started playing songs I knew people liked. We had several people come visit our booth, and a lot of those people told me they really enjoyed my music selection. My dad gave me the idea to start djing after that day, because he knew I had always had a real passion for music and I wasn’t too bad at gaging how to play it for other people. So I got some “turntables” a DJ app on an iPad) and I played my first gig at a Fire Safety Week party at the fire station (which believe or not was a lot of fun and one I will cherish forever). From then on, I knew this was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I finally got some actual turntables and learned how to mix songs together and a whole bunch of technical stuff like EQs and BPM and all that. There’s been some challenges, but it’s all been worth it, because you learn from the difficult things and you get better. I love that I have a source of income through doing something I adore, but the best part is being able to take people away from whatever they’re going through for a couple of hours and make them have a great time. I have been very blessed with such a supportive community and parents who push me to do my best in everything. My business has definitely grown because of them, and I have plenty more things planned. I can’t wait for you to see what happens next. 

Raquel Thompson a.k.a. DJ Raquel