The Gainesville-based DJ STEFEN Gallardo, hailing from Austin, Texas, began tearing up the local music scene in early 2021. His passion and love for house music were inspired by top tech and bass house artists Chris Lake, Habstrakt, Tony Romera, Tchami, and Mark Knight. He got his first break opening for Grammy award-winning artist CID, then continued his momentum to open and close shows for Chris Lorenzo, SNBRN, Steve Aoki, and Evalution. Stefen continues to produce remixes, mashups, and mixes. He is easily recognizable through the chaotic energy he brings to his sets. 2023 is getting brighter for him as he is consistently releasing projects and mastering original tracks. Stefen is also proficient in creating websites through Google Sites for the University of Florida Gator City Walk Project as well as doing research in other areas such as advertising trade journals. Stefen has not only played for these artists but also managed concerts for artists such as Max Styler, Wax Motif, and Mau P, two great artists in the new tech house scene. The work that is done in the trade journals and website building shows how up-to-date Stefen is with information about the music scene and how to apply it in an aesthetic way to clients. Stefen is currently in his third year at the University of Florida and plans on graduating in the spring of 2024 with a degree in advertising.
Portfolio
Portfolio Work
These content pieces were created for class projects. The Gator City Walk was made to help students get around the University of Florida through various bus stops and favorite spots to eat. The design and approach to this work were intended to be sleek and efficient to help kids in Gainesville with easy navigation through the effectiveness of the Google site. Although this is not related to music, it showcases the effectiveness of a good website that can be put to other tasks like making press kits and content for other artists. Trade journals were made to help keep up with the latest news in the advertising world. This illustration from Billboard Music showcases some of the most recent music news that experts can find. Staying up-to-date with current news in advertising and the entertainment business is a necessary skill to have in the music industry. The strategy behind trade journals is to understand the stories and how they are implemented in the real world. Trade journals are a great way to understand and comprehend business practices and think logically of how they can be implemented into ones own work. For my creative side the other content piece that was created is my promotional DJ video. This was created for my business and music page to help promoters and managers understand the level that I DJ at. The strategy that I used is to make it as hype as possible to let industry workers understand what kind of artist they are booking in the future.
Closing Essay
Over the last semester, I have gained particular knowledge in my own field and learned how to apply it in my everyday life. This class has helped me apply actual knowledge to my own business plan with my partnership company, Retail Records. Since then, we have implemented tutorials, podcasts, TikToks, and other forms of media into our campaign to give some of these smaller house artists more fame and attention. This has helped the company gain 1,000+ followers and great feedback from tutorials and podcasts. Creating a community is hard, but this allowed me to understand how to organically grow a business through media rather than spending money on ad campaigns. Not only did this class help me with that, but it also allowed me to implement my own creative thinking into the projects, letting me pick my own business to write about and create ideas for. This is a class that I have used to promote, talk to professionals, and enhance my business skills in the future to effectively communicate my thoughts. Communicating your thoughts in a strategic plan is the most valuable tool. Many people have great ideas, but the ones that can effectively put them into action are the ones that are ultimately successful in their field, and these projects have allowed me to express that. These skills will completely carry over into the workforce and not only help me as an employee, but also allow me to start my own business and organize my ideas to distribute to potential angel investors to lend a helping hand for my creative ideas. Personally, I work in the creative side of the music industry, and for a lot of creatives, it is hard to express our thoughts logically on paper rather than in song form or art, but this class and curriculum have helped me improve those skills to get the right team to help me reach my goals.