Today we’d like to introduce you to Carmen Aguirre.
Hi Carmen, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
In the summer before starting medical school, a mentor told me that I should pursue a passion outside of medicine as they believed I did not have a good balance between work and life so I was speaking to one of my friends who worked at the local music venue in Minneapolis called Skyway Theatre and they set me up with a job helping to go pick up Artist from the airport and helping to buy the food and Alcohol on their artist rider. While I was working here, I met a VJ who introduced me to the world of production for music.
I started to learn how to VJ (video jockey). A few months later, I started medical school. While I was in medical school, I was playing shows on the weekend, and on my time off from school, I was going on tour vjing for openers on bigger tours and learning how to put shows together. Eventually, I was hired to fly around the country on the weekends to do shows for numerous artists. At the same time, I was also learning how to do animation. I started to design visuals for several artists. At the end of my first year of Med School, I was diagnosed with cancer. I underwent treatment and took a leave of absence from school. During this time, I moved to Los Angeles and was getting treatment and also was hired to do the Animations for a record label called Disciple creating assets for all of their releases. I did this for six months before moving back to Minnesota to finish school which was around the time of the pandemic. During this time live shows completely halted and medical school moved online.
At this time, I took an illustration course locally and began selling NFTs. The NFTs that I made were focused on Mental Health, and a portion of the sales were donated to a Mental Health charity. I was also hosting groups with different visiting psychiatrists on an app called Clubhouse where people from all over the world were joining to discuss their experiences with mental health. This was very important to me as I want to be a pediatric psychiatrist one day. Eventually, the pandemic settled down and live shows returned. Currently, I am still in medical school touring the country for my vjing when I have time off.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I have dealt with a lot of health challenges I have Crohn’s disease which is very severe and frequently requires surgery. Managing this while balancing medical school and vjing is an immense challenge in itself.
When I began as a VJ (7 years ago), I was one of two females in the country that I knew did this job. There were a lot of barriers to overcome. Being in a male-dominated industry, it was very common to receive harassment and to be belittled. It was very common for people to think you were dating somebody not that you were there to work. I even had times I was thrown out of the production areas because I am a woman and they weren’t sure that I was supposed to be there working despite having the correct credentials.
When you are a woman in this industry you have to earn everyone’s respect rather than having respect already. When things go wrong, they blame you before they check to see if it’s their mistake. I have faced sexual abuse from artists. Artist managers, and festival staff. However difficult these experiences were, it is because of the persistence through these challenges that today there are hundreds of female VJS in the music industry.
Making a change in an industry is painful. It requires thick skin and being confident in the fact that what you are doing is going to make a difference and change the opportunity for those who come after. I am determined to keep fighting not only for the respect of women in the music industry but also for the respect of visual artists and their art as a whole.
In April of this year, the artist I work mainly with, and I decided that we wanted to change things up. Traditionally. VJS is in the back of the music venue in an area with a bunch of other production people who help put the show on. In April, we decided I was going to perform on stage alongside the artist. We have been touring ever since with me on stage which is not something that has been done before. There have been artist duo groups and there are some people who have done this previously, but in the genre of music I am working in this is unheard of. Especially because we are not touring as a duo, but rather as two separately distinguished artists.
This has presented immense challenges to overcome not to mention so many people in the scene who question and doubt what we are doing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m known for my show design and visual animation for live events as well as being a touring VJ (video jockey). I’m most proud of being one of the first women to do this job.
I specialize in the genre of dubstep or electronic dance music. I have also worked with some world-renowned pop artists. I think the fact that I am in medical school and also a VJ sets me apart from most people. I’ve played festivals all over the world. I also am known for raising awareness for mental health and addiction.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking.
I am a risk taker. I believe in the “high risk high reward” If you aren’t willing to take risks you won’t be able to achieve things that others claim to be impossible. Taking high risks comes with the challenge that you will have huge downfalls. I have fallen on my face with nothing… Forced to rebuild countless times.
But if you have the determination to never let anything, get in your way you can accomplish whatever you set out to do and you should never let anyone, ever tell you differently. The people who doubt the impossible are the people who aren’t willing to take risks. I have no problem with those who play it safe as long as they don’t try to become obstacles for those doing the opposite.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.vjneurite.com
- Instagram: @vjneurite
- Twitter: @VjNeurite
Image Credits
www.OHDAGYOPHOTO.com and @thisismtk
