05/22/2026
Day 2 of our Zarren spotlight: his story.
This is the part of the series we promised: letting you in. Long version. In his own words. Pull up a chair.
“Long before I became a wedding DJ, I was just a kid in Menasha, Wisconsin, surrounded by music. I was raised by my mom and my grandparents, and music was always part of our world…local concerts, songs playing around the house, and my mom making what I still believe were the best mix tapes ever. Honestly, if those tapes still existed, I'd give anything to hear them again. Music was always there, and somewhere along the way, it became part of me.
By the time I was around 16, I had figured out that if my mom was at work, I could hook up every speaker in the house and make it as loud as humanly possible. I would even open the windows so the neighbors could hear it too. Looking back now, I owe a very sincere apology to James and the rest of the neighborhood. Eventually, my mom started getting complaints, and instead of just shutting it down, she said something that changed everything:
"If you want to do this, you need to find a way to get paid for it."
So she connected me with one of her friends who was in a band, and at 17, I got my first real opportunity to learn. That band was Star69, and I still have so much love and appreciation for them. They let me play music during their breaks, learn the equipment, help with setup, and slowly figure things out at my own pace. I learned why gear goes where it goes, how a show is built, and how much the setup itself matters. A lot of my attention to detail today (the clean setups, the concert-style lighting, the way I want things to feel intentional and polished) comes from those early days.
I worked with them for about a year and a half, and if I'm being fair, I did not know how to DJ yet. I was more of a glorified iPod at that point. I knew what music I liked, but I didn't fully understand what other people liked, or how to read a room beyond my own taste. But I took away a lot from that time: the business side, the equipment, the energy of live events, and most importantly, how fun it felt to be part of creating a moment for people.
After that chapter, around 18 or 19, I started DJing more with my friend Paul Thompson, who is still one of my great friends… love him dearly, along with his 12 kids. (I don't think he actually has 12 kids, but it feels right to say.) We spent a lot of time in the basement at his parents' house trying to figure out how to actually DJ. And I'll give Paul his credit: at that time, he was honestly better than I was. His music background and being a drummer definitely helped. I had no real understanding yet of how to put two songs together, or that there was actual math and structure behind how music worked. We were just learning, experimenting, and trying to get better.
Eventually, we got to the age where people started asking us to DJ parties we were already going to. Back then, I had this killer iPod loaded with all the best stuff, and I would basically take over the jukebox at every house party. That's when I really started learning how to read a crowd. I was playing for different groups of people, in different cities, in different situations, and I started realizing I could feel where the room wanted to go. People were having fun, and I was having success with it. That was the first time I really thought, "Okay, maybe I can actually do this."
For a long time, I kept DJing while also working a full-time job at a pawn store. That job ended up becoming another major turning point, because that's where I met James Kelley. James would come in all the time, and we would talk about music, DJing, and life. He was actually out there getting paid to DJ, doing real events, and telling me stories about it. It sounded exciting, and honestly, it sounded like exactly what I wanted to be doing. James became one of my closest friends in the world, and even back then, I knew he was someone who would be in my corner for life.
James eventually introduced me to Corey Young, the man who started Yo DJ. Corey and James would come into the pawn store, and I would tell them, with all the confidence in the world, that I was a big-time DJ and totally knew what I was doing. The truth is, I had all the confidence and very little actual knowledge. I wanted to impress them because I looked up to them. They were doing the thing I wanted to do, and I wanted to prove I belonged there too.
Then one day, James asked me to come DJ a prom with him. I had the day off, and he said, "Come do this school dance with me." I remember thinking, "Oh no. This is real." I had played parties, but I hadn't done something like that in front of a real crowd in a long time. But we went, we did it, and honestly, we killed it. It was a great school dance and such a fun night. Shout out to London.
I did, however, make one mistake that still haunts me to this day. I played "In This Moment" by Pitbull and Havana Brown, and at the time, I didn't fully understand the importance of clean edits for school events. Somehow, I made it through the rest of the night without anything inappropriate happening, but in that song there's a moment where the music drops out completely and Pitbull says, "Now f***ing pay me." That was the first and last time I ever dropped an F-bomb at a school dance, and I have been cursed by that memory ever since.
After that gig, Corey basically stole me from James and said I was going to start working with him. Corey and I ended up doing weddings together for about two years. He taught me the ropes, helped me become more confident on the microphone, and showed me what it really meant to guide a wedding day. James helped me with that too. Around that same time, Corey and James brought their companies together. They had been two separate companies going after the same events, and eventually they decided, "Why are we competing? Let's build something real together."
That's how Yo DJ became what it is today, and I was basically the first baby DJ they brought in when those two joined forces. I got to grow inside this company from the beginning, learning from people who cared about doing things the right way and building something bigger than themselves.
Fast forward to now, and Yo DJ has grown into a team of full-time DJs who are all out there doing incredible work and finding their own voices in this industry. One of my favorite things about our team is that everyone has different strengths. We all bring something unique to the table, and because of that, we can take care of so many different kinds of couples and celebrations.
So that's a little bit of how I became a Yo DJ. It started with my mom's mix tapes, way-too-loud speakers in Menasha, some very patient neighbors, a band that gave me a chance, friends who helped me learn, and two people who believed in me before I fully knew what I was doing. And somehow, all of that turned into a career built around music, weddings, connection, and helping people celebrate one of the biggest days of their lives.”
That's Zarren. One of ours. 🫶🏽 Drop those early days photos of Z!
