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Bennett Marcus

A booming voice repeating the phrase, “Keep believing in yourself, keep doing it”, reverberated throughout the club Franny in Taipei as DJ Praktyczna Pani began her set.
Pani, representing Poland, was the sole female among 24 competitors in the 2019 Red Bull Music 3Style World DJ Championships, which took place in Taiwan from January 24 to 27.

“Believe in yourself,” she says, was borrowed from a statement that British actress Kate Winslet made to empower women. This is Pani’s mantra.
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After attending a party with terrible music, Pani, whose stage name translates to “A Practical Lady,” thought to herself, “I can do better than that.”
Despite having no experience, she quit her dead-end job, taught herself how to spin, promoted her music and has never looked back.
The tagline on her website is: “I love my work and I get paid for it.”
In Poland there are not many female DJs, and that was one of the reasons she overcame self-doubt and decided to participate in the Red Bull competition.
“We women are shy to show ourselves sometimes, and I thought that maybe my journey can help someone to show up, to change things; to maybe quit their job and do what they like,” she tells STYLE.

Pani’s look is funky; she doesn’t wear skirts and heels, and so doesn’t often have men hitting on her during gigs, which she says happens more to DJs who do.
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“But they are really tough; they know how to work with that kind of experience,” she says.
Taiwanese DJ RayRay is one who loves playing with fashion and beauty – she works with high-end brands and was tapped for a Chanel Red video in December, and played at the launch party.



 

 
 


 
 

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RAYRAY X @juliawu94 X @chanelofficial X @marieclairetw #djrayray #theLOOP #marieclare #chanel #lerougechanel #juliawu
A post shared by RayRay (@djrayraytaiwan) on Dec 27, 2018 at 2:38am PST



RayRay finds that male artists or producers sometimes underestimate her, but she lets her work do the talking.
“I know I can scratch. If I sense that vibe, I say let’s go play some vinyl, and I just try to win them over in other ways.”
RayRay, who represented Taiwan in the 2013 Red Bull Music finals, doesn’t take the harassment or being underestimated seriously.

“They will do that, but it doesn’t matter,” she says.
“That’s also life experience, right? But my personality is more like a fighter, so if you do that to me, you’ll get more from me. I like challenge.”

Nina Las Vegas, a judge in the Red Bull competition, says: “I find that we’re moving forward, and there are more female DJs than ever.
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“But the same problems happen everywhere; singular line-ups, not switching up diversity on elements of the creative path.”
She says last year four women made it to the Red Bull world finals.

As in other creative fields, there’s a pay gap in the music business.
We women are shy to show ourselves sometimes, and I thought that maybe my journey can help someone to show up, to change things; to maybe quit their job and do what they like
DJ Praktyczna Pani
“I’ve always had an agent and I’ve always had power, but I definitely know that I’ve been paid less. I know that for a fact,” says the Australian DJ, who started her career in radio and now has her own record label.
She says she has had a few awkward altercations with promoters because she’s called them out.

“It’s perceived as bitchy, but I’m just telling you how it is,” she says.
Nina admits that she has sometimes avoided speaking out because of her fears about how she might be regarded.
“It’s basically old white men running some of those big festivals,” she says, adding that pointing out a lack of diversity in a line-up may not be worth it.
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“If I was Skrillex or someone prominent and obviously powerful, then it wouldn’t be perceived in the same way of me saying it. I’m not whingeing, I’m saying it sucks.”

Nina’s advice to women interested in entering the field is to just be confident and to ask for what you want.
“Everyone asks me for what they want, and I never take offence to it,” she says.
“If you had the chance to see as much as I have, and how the other sex asks and hustles themselves, nothing is ever embarrassing.
“You will never put yourself out as much as someone has previously. It’s fine.”
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If the 2019 Red Bull Music 3Style World DJ Championships in Taipei is anything to go by, women are working twice as hard to make their mark on music industry


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What it’s like: How Taiwan’s female DJs put a new spin on a male-dominated industry

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}If the 2019 Red Bull Music 3Style World DJ Championships in Taipei is anything to go by, women are working twice as hard to make their mark on music industry

If the 2019 Red Bull Music 3Style World DJ Championships in Taipei is anything to go by, women are working twice as hard to make their mark on music industry