Pamela Bardhi 

Welcome back to Underdog. Today we have Part B of my incredible interview with DJ Cito. I can’t wait for you to hear the rest of his story. And without further ado, here is DJ Cito.

 

DJ Cito 

We started this whole thing, Valentino’s Entertainment. And it’s kind of like, you know, we make parties unforgettable, you know, because when you had a party, and it’s absolutely dead. Oh, yeah. Imagine if you’re like, the sweet 16-year-old, like having the party is like, oh, my goodness, my party is awful. Tell the DJ to play this. The DJ is not doing this. And then they start blaming the DJ, we have been there done that. So, with the whole Hora Loca thing is like now is like, once that starts, then the party gets the way, and it’s insane, insane.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Has that been like working? It’s so fun. Like, I feel like it’s all psychology, how it all it’s all sort of like broken down.

 

DJ Cito 

Yeah, yeah, exactly is.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Like, people dancing, and then everybody starts dancing. And I can say like, it’s just so it takes that one person to just, if you’re igniting that, I think that’s awesome.

 

DJ Cito 

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, that’s what it is. And that’s a lot of things is that like, even myself, like, I’m a lay guy, you know, when I get on the wizard truth, and I’m big, and I’m hyping it up on the mic. But one thing is that like when you have like when I started that manager, like five different parties in one day, it was like, how can we make those parties also great. That’s what the whole Hora Loca came in. And then that’s where, you know, kind of like it all.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

So that’s kind of like the secret sauce of what’s sort of happening right now with the events.

 

DJ Cito 

Exactly. Yep. So that’s on it. So, you can have a regular baby shower, and I’ve done this, plenty of baby showers and even first birthday parties, where it’ll be absolutely dead. soon as you get the whole Valentino’s in there. That’s the party just ignites. Really?

 

Pamela Bardhi 

And how long are they? They’re just an hour.

 

DJ Cito 

Just about 45 minutes to an hour.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Wow. And then once they leave it just

 

DJ Cito 

once it leaves the kind of like, it’s all up to the DJ to just…

 

Pamela Bardhi 

…to keep going. But it’s good. Because if it’s a good DJ, they can sort of keep the vibe. So you almost want to bring them on, like almost midway.

 

DJ Cito 

Yeah. Yeah. Literally

 

Pamela Bardhi 

 Which is cool, man. Yeah, that is so brilliant.

 

DJ Cito 

Yeah. So that’s what the whole Valentino’s thing. Another thing is that we started doing so back with the whole Cito Events thing is, now I’m kind of converting Cito Events to be more of like, you could kind of say, like an event planning company, you know, yeah. All in one kind of thing, kind of not really.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

kind of not really? Maybe, like the lighting and the DJing part of it, maybe?

 

DJ Cito 

Exact… Kind of no, no. So not even the DJ thing. So, it’s just kind of like my own, like Cito Events is more of like an event planning company, but is only run by myself, where I plan out the event and organize it. So, kind of like an event coordinator. So that’s the whole Cito events thing. Now the whole DJing thing is that I started this thing called Premier Latin DJs. Right? So, I’ve noticed that there’s a lot of talented DJs out there, like so, so many, it’s incredible. But the thing is that they don’t have the tools in order for them to do private events. And I’m talking about events for like, like Burger King, like festivals, like I’m talking about big, big events, you know, or even like, what is always just the same. And one thing about these DJs is that they don’t have speakers. They just have the talent. You know, their MOS is on the ones and twos. So, then I was like, you know what, since I’m already in the whole private events game, why not give those opportunities to the DJs that’s been with me since the very start, you know. I don’t know if you remember DJ Cisco.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Yeah. Yeah. Cisco and fingers. As well, and they’re still Yeah, like, still 10 years. 15 years strong. Yeah. They really are. My God.

 

DJ Cito

Exactly. So, then I was like, you know what, let me help those out that started with me. And, you know, so I started then doing their events. So, kind of like, I kind of involved this whole Cito events thing, the whole DJ Cito thing into an agency now, which is Premier Latin DJs that manages you know, these top DJs that are in the game right now.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

So, you’re pretty much handling their marketing and they’re booking.

 

DJ Cito 

Not, not the marketing.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

But the booking?

 

DJ Cito 

Yeah, exactly.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

But it also gives them marketing tools because they’re affiliated. Like the best of the best are affiliated with you. So that’s still marketing for them.

 

DJ Cito 

Exactly, exactly.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

They can use your credibility and all that to sort of build on it.

 

DJ Cito 

Yeah, yeah.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

So, to get those deals because I mean, they can see the portfolio what you’ve done. Yeah. And be like, okay, whoa.

 

DJ Cito 

Yeah, yeah, yup exactly. So that’s another thing. And that’s been oh my goodness, blowing, blowing up. Like I first started the whole thing in 2017. And when 2018 hit, I didn’t realize it was going to get that, that big to be honest. To organize and orchestrate seven events in one day.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

That’s insane.

 

DJ Cito 

That’s insane. And I’m talking about like, it’s not like baby showers. These are like, these are big weddings. Big quinceaneros. Like, it’s crazy. And I don’t know if you see the quinceaneros that are nowadays.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

They’re crazy.

 

DJ Cito 

Crazier than weddings as a matter of fact.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Are you serious? So, tell us a few of the biggest events and like basically different things that you’ve done, because I know you’ve had I tried to keep up with you what you do so many amazing things is like I’m like so what is like the top five you would say events that you’ve ever done.

 

DJ Cito 

So I gotta say though, one of the biggest events that I’ve done this past year is with a good friend of mine, his name is Yogi Rana. And he runs BSL, which is a DJ company. So, we did a million-dollar wedding. It was breathtaking. Like, as soon as you walk into the room with everything all set up, you were just like, in awe. And these are events that are like that, you will see them on social media. So, to actually be a part of it and work that event, was incredible for me, you know? So, I mean, imagine like, we went to a venue and the decorator she said, Oh, you see this carpet, it looks too hotel-like. Let’s go ahead and put an all-white carpet in Philippine tie your ballroom, and we’re talking about this ballroom parties probably fits around like 700 people there.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

And she just said, take it all out.

 

DJ Cito 

Yeah, no, they said, let’s go. Let’s bring our carpet. Let’s make it all white. And she pulled up the entire ballroom with white carpet. I think it was incredible, incredible, incredible.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

The level of detail sounds crazy.

 

DJ Cito 

Yeah. Oh, yeah, it was definitely crazy. I gotta say that’s definitely one of the top ones. We also did this other event for Burger King, actually, when we did kind of like their gala holiday party. So that was pretty epic. We did like a full-like, red carpet setup. 54 red carpet, not three-foot-wide or four-foot-wide red carpet. I’m talking about the six-foot-wide red carpet. 50 feet long. It was like epic, you know. We had another company that I managed as well with my girlfriend. It’s called Everlasting Foldables. So, we have Everlasting Foldables there a whole camera so when people walk in, they can get interviewed as they’re walking into the gala. So then that was being projected on three TVs that we had set up in the console area. So, while people are having the cocktails, they can see all of their coworkers and colleagues being interviewed as though so that was pretty cool.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Sounds like crazy Hollywood.

 

DJ Cito 

Oh, the Portugal festival that you mentioned. So, that was actually a 10-day festival. Yeah, 10-day, I guess it’s like one of the biggest festivals in Portugal. We’re actually probably even around the world because it’s 10 exact, like, days, just like back to back, back to back. And I’m talking about like, starting from like, early in the morning, up until four o’clock in the morning. Or like six o’clock in the morning, as a matter of fact. Yeah, that was 10 days. Yeah, yup. So, we did that. That was 1000s of people that was there is crazy. Because I was actually DJing it with a friend of mine, Metal music. So it’s crazy because of the amount of energy that that concert or the people have at that concert. It’s insane. Like, I swear everything I love. I felt like if I could grab a microphone and go like this, and the people will go crazy.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

I remember seeing the video for it and I feel the energy and I wasn’t even there. I wasn’t even there. And I was like Dang, that looks crazy. That just looks epic.

 

DJ Cito 

Yeah, definitely was. That’s what it was, epic.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Oh, God. Yeah. So, I was like, holy cow. And I knew I had heard about that festival before I didn’t know it was 10 days. I thought it was like three.

 

DJ Cito 

Yeah, no 10 days just back to back with different DJs from all over the world is insane. Insane. Insane.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

So, you just like, like we’re there for 10 days straight.

 

DJ Cito 

So, I only DJed one night. I will be dead if I did all of them.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Oh my God.

 

DJ Cito 

My cell was to start. I think it was at three in the morning. And that’s when I start it. So, we went from three in the morning. We did our set. And then after that, and then we hit up after-party.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

There’s an after-party after…

 

DJ Cito 

The whole island parties. It was on the island; I think it was Teixeira in Portugal. And it was insane, insane, insane. Another event talking about concerts. So, I’m part of this company called Audio Spectrum, that we pretty much do like huge festivals, like concerts. So, we were just actually, just the other day on the Prudential Centre in New Jersey, 20,000 people. Concert was sold out. It’s called Mega Mythical Bash. And it’s like a huge event where there’s like, like the top line artists like Romeo Santos was there. Ozona was there, Sach was there. Luis Fonsi, He was there, you know. I met the guy Despacito, Luis Fonsi. And Tego Calderón, Don Omar, everybody. Like all these top artists. And we pretty much produced that entire, no, not produced, but kind of like provided equipment for the entire concert, you know. Insane. It’s like, high level as you can possibly get in that world. Yeah, so true. Yeah, literally.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

So, like, how did you come up from that? You know, like, yeah, you went from DJing your own stuff, just like single Citos, like these multimillion-dollar events with some of the biggest names out there. What would be like your three, like keys of success there?

 

DJ Cito 

success. I gotta say, be a believer in God, you know, and have faith. In everything that you, do always just have faith that everything’s gonna go well. I used to tell these kids, I used to, kind of like, give advice to in school when they were in middle school. And I used to tell them, Listen, if you have an exam, you can’t just wake up in the morning and be like, oh, I’m nervous. Think about it, because most likely you’re gonna fail that test. But if you wake up that morning, you’re like, you know what, I’m gonna ace this test, I’m gonna do, I’m gonna get through it. You might not have studied, but you, being positive, most likely you’re gonna pass.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

So, it’s like those affirmations sort of kept you going through the process?

 

DJ Cito 

Exactly. Yeah. So, I gotta say that. And another thing too is something that I gotta say, just like, if you do something, do with love. You can’t do something and, and not love or enjoy doing it. You’re gonna do something, make sure you do it with passion with love. And it’ll definitely take you far, you know, hands-on.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Like, it sounds like to your business. Like, do you think that a lot of it because you basically your business took off during the social media ever?

 

DJ Cito 

Yes. Yes. Yeah. So true.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Yeah, exactly. Like it was like when I met you MySpace was still like, live? Oh, yeah. But then everything started evolving. Do you think that that’s been a key factor in the success of the business? I think a lot of it with you. My senses have been word of mouth.

 

DJ Cito 

Yes.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

What’s like or like, is it the strategy?

 

DJ Cito  13:14

I say, yay, me. Because social media can either break you or make you. One day, it was super hilarious. So one of the details. So, we have our team, Premier Line DJ. And it is a total of seven DJs. Right. And there was one DJ that I saw on a weekend, and he’s like, Cito do you even do any events anymore? And I’m like, bro, like, we just did like five events this past week, what are you saying? But it was all because of social media. Because the thing is that if you don’t post, people think that you don’t do events or you know, you’re not doing anything in life, you know? So it’s like if you do the whole social media thing is really hard, even for myself, because back-to-back meetings doing that, a holiday around. Yeah, exactly. I don’t even have the time to post. I told my friend the other day, I did this 12 Days of Christmas challenge. And I told my friend like, Yup, this is like, an actual job. Like, for me to sit here and just think about what I’m gonna write in, in writing. Yeah, they like to edit the photo, like this job, like, and then I would do it. I like 12 o’clock when everybody’s sleeping. Like, I read that one pulls out, like one o’clock in the morning. And I was like, man, like, this is the only time that I had the entire day for me to go on social media. So it’s like,  I felt like with social media, it’s like, you’ve really got to promote like that you’re making a move that you’re doing this because if not, people are gonna think your clients and even the people that you’re associated with, are gonna think that you’re slacking or something. But it’s the complete opposite, right?

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Right, ‘cuz you don’t have the time to post but like when you were coming up because I feel like you were posting a lot of like a different venue side. Do you think that that helped with your marketing or was it more word of mouth? How you got to like these crazy gigs and these connections? I feel like you’re just like a very positive person. You just are a natural networker. You’re like I’m Cito, I’m a DJ. Like when I met you, you were always super happy, super joyful. Yeah, full of high energy. And I just always remembered that about you. So, I feel like for you like what’s been, what’s taking you from just the one kid who was doing DJing in high school to like this huge like mogul, you’re like an events mogul. You know, so like, what was like the biggest thing to getting you there you think?

 

DJ Cito 

I gotta say that we’re really, really what got me there I gotta say, my dreams. Definitely. It’s my house. Yeah. I always say this, it’s my personal quote. I always say that my passions are driven by my dreams. And my dreams are driven by my passion. So, like, I’m a true believer that, I’m a big dreamer. Like, when I dream about something, I could be even like driving on the road, or like taking a shower or something. And I’ll be dreaming, like just thinking about what I could do to better my life what I could do to better others. I gotta say, that’s really is really comes down. So you know, my dream is my passion and passion is my dream. So I gotta say, is all about that.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

You visualize that before it even happened. Because you said it when I met with you 10, 11 years ago. You’re like, I want to be one of the biggest DJs out there.

 

DJ Cito  

Yeah, exactly.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

I was like, yeah, you’ll do it. Like, here you are. You manifested it in a way, right?

 

DJ Cito 

Yes.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

And like you affirmed it, and you’ve been working towards it. So, I just think it’s absolutely incredible what you’ve done to date. Now.

 

DJ Cito 

Definitely.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Question for you.

 

DJ Cito 

Yes.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

What would your oldest self tell your younger self? Based on what you know now?

 

DJ Cito 

My oldest self, tell my younger self? Pay yourself first, maybe. Because that’s something that I haven’t been doing even till today. Just be happy with everything that, with all the downfalls that you have because, in order for you to succeed in life, you gotta first go to failure. You can’t be successful if there are no failures. So, I would say that.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

So like speaking of failures, and that whole what society deems as failures. To you, what were the biggest struggles because this is a competitive market.

 

DJ Cito 

Oh, my goodness.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

To arise the way you have is unreal.

 

DJ Cito 

Yes.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

How did you differentiate? Like, what were the struggles?

 

DJ Cito 

One of my biggest struggles was that when I first started, I really wanted to have like, $500,000. Like, really, because I would use that $500,000. And I’ll invest into everything that I need – the whole DJ equipment, a warehouse, company, van. So that’s where I really struggled in is like, man, how can I get all this money in order for me to kind of like, open this dream up of mine? You know, because when most businesses started, that’s what they have, they get a loan from the bank. They’ll give them a million dollars, for example. But what that million dollars, they would build the store to put furniture in do this do that they already have everything structured. But on the flip side, when I was like, broke, and I was kind of still say that I’m broke, you know.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Because you’re always investing in your businesses.

 

DJ Cito 

It’s crazy.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Because your entrepreneur broke.

 

DJ Cito 

Yeah, exactly. And more money, more problems. But I kind of like, that has been like, very challenging for me. Because when you obviously when you first start a business, you want everything to be legit, right? But how can you start something legit, if you’re broke? You gotta kind of like, slowly just work the ladder up.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

And work your resources too at that point.

 

DJ Cito 

Exactly. Yep. So that’s kind of like, you know, definitely has been one of my biggest challenges in life.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Another question for you for everyone who’s watching. What’s the best piece of advice that you would give?

 

DJ Cito 

That I would give to others? The best piece of advice, I gotta say, I said before, if you’re gonna do something, do with love, you know, you can’t do something that you hate. I mean that doesn’t even make sense. So, if you do something, definitely do it with passion, do it with love. And, you know, going back to like the whole Dominican Republic thing is that, right now here in America, there’s a lot of people that are like struggling in life and they’re unhappy with themselves. And it’s crazy how when you go to the Dominican Republic, with my family in El Campo. I’m talking about like, these are the places that like you go in like when you want to use the restroom, it’s like a hole in the ground. And those are the people that are like, so happy in life. And it’s incredible. These people don’t have anything. And they’re absolutely happy.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

I agree. I went there. And I would say the exact same. They were the most grateful, happy people. And it makes you come back and you’re like, what am I missing? Like, I’ve got so much more but yet, you know, and it’s just the gratitude that I think.

 

DJ Cito 

Yes, hands-on. A lot of people that are here working a nine to five, like to grind in and just absolutely hate life. Right. And I’m like, you have it all. You have, you’re maintaining your families. You’re eating every day; you have a roof on top of your head. There are people out there that are struggling, and you’re here living this, this lifestyle and you’re still complaining. That’s crazy.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

It is so allowing you to see things from a different perspective. Yeah, thanks to just the whole gratitude piece.

 

DJ Cito 

Yeah, yep.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

So now question for you. In the future, what should we anticipate seeing from you? And then we got to let people know how to find you.

 

DJ Cito 

Yes, yes. Yeah. So, the future, some like upcoming projects and businesses that are been venturing off into. We’re starting this whole dance group called Fly Kids. So pretty much it’s like a group of kids that their passion is dance. So, a friend of mine, JC Cruz, he thought of this, like back, back, back in the day or whatever, like when he was in high school a few years ago. So, he had this whole thing, this crew called Fly Kids, right? So, then me and Chris, the guy that kind of runs Summer Jam with me, we kind of like, talk to each other. We’re like, man, like, we see one of our friends, building this business, but he doesn’t know where to go, like in life, you know, we want to help guide him, you know. So that’s where we kind of like teamed up altogether to make this dream of his into a reality. So we just opened up our studio just opened up last week, as a matter of fact, yeah, yeah. And we actually have an open house today. And during the entire week, we’re going to be opening, in March, March 19. So that’s going to be like, you know, one of the biggest things that are coming up for this brand new year, you know, definitely not only that but like the whole DJing thing, it still hasn’t launched. But once we get everything secure, and make sure everything’s going to be going great, that’s when we’re going to do the big launch, you know, a big party that you’ll definitely be invited.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

Awesome, and let everyone know how they can sort of reach you on LinkedIn, Instagram, whichever is your preferred method, website.

 

DJ Cito 

Of course. Yeah. So, to get in contact with me, you could actually hit me up on Instagram, as Citoevents. A lot of people get confused because inline people will still follow Sito with S. So Cito events and I gotta say, as of right now, that’s probably the best way to contact me, you know? Definitely. Oh, and also Gmail.  citoevents@gmail.com.

 

Pamela Bardhi 

It was a pleasure having you.