Life & Work with Monica Yang

Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Yang.

Hi Monica, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
When I hear that someone has come from many walks of life, I’m immediately intrigued; then I realize I was born into many walks of life in an unplanned yet serendipitous way. Born in Tacoma, Washington and raised in Seoul, Korea on the US military base, I feel that my upbringing has set the blueprint of who and where I am today with music always by my side. Music distinctly became the love of my life at the age of seven and, ever since, I’ve internally moved it more and more central to my life to the point where I’m sure that whatever it may be (DJing, producing, singing, artist relations) is and has been my calling. I’ve worked many different jobs from hospitality/customer service to marketing and administration; as far as establishing myself in the musical realm, I have been a DJ, Catch24, for the past seven years with four of those years being full-time (wow, I’m just now realizing how long it’s been). I started in 2014 in Seattle with my mentor at the time who taught me the basics while I was in-between jobs.

From there, I’ve crafted my own style and became a chameleon of all genres which allowed me to take a wide variety of gigs from clubs, in-store, weddings to corporate events. I found myself beginning to travel for DJing in places all across the US and in Asia for the following years and have recently moved to Los Angeles in 2020. I can’t say that I’ve moved here solely for DJing–since Covid hit the entertainment industry by storm in early 2020, I’ve slowed down and opted out of full-time streaming because I couldn’t find the same passion and excitement DJing in front of a camera opposed to DJing in a room full of people physically and not digitally present. So, currently and for the past year, I’ve been forced into a journey of reconstruction/hiatus/self-love and realization which is something that I had no time for while I was working a fast-paced lifestyle pre-Covid. I still work on music on my own and behind closed doors because it is the passion that fuels me and I am working on a couple of musical projects for the future that are outside of DJing. So when I said that I was born into this unplanned and serendipitous life that I live, after laying it all out on here, I can say that I’m still living through what I was born into and am enjoying every bit of it!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I would say one of the biggest struggles I had as a DJ was mostly not putting myself first in my personal life. At some points, I was spending more of my time working sometimes three gigs in one day/6-7 gigs in a span of five days and even traveling to three different cities in three days. Don’t get me wrong, that’s my dream schedule! But after taking this past year off due to Covid, the slow to no schedule really made me realize how much I hadn’t taken care of myself, a majority of it mentally and emotionally. I will say, having a couple of existential crises at the age of 30, let alone even having one at any age, is a sure and telling sign to work through all of the struggles no matter how tough it can be. Now that I’ve had all this time to realize, go through and trust the process of my journey, I’m definitely more prepared and properly equipped for the lifestyle I was previously living with a stronger mentality and unmasked positive attitude.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As you know by now, I specify mostly in music and the art of selecting/mixing songs as a DJ. Anything that sparks inspiration and motivation has always had me going and allowed me to be who I am today; so it’s always been my main point and goal to do the same for others in return. The human connection alone is a big inspiration in what I do: when I play music for others and see it move them, it definitely makes me proud and feel a great sense of achievement. Soon I’ll be venturing into the vocal artist realm of music, still as Catch24, and releasing a track and visualizer which I’m very excited about–it will be the first of many, stay tuned!

What was your favorite childhood memory?
Pertaining to my musical journey, my favorite childhood memory that will always feel like yesterday is the very moment I fell in love with my favorite genre, R&B/hip hop. I was only but seven years old and I was in the backseat of the car with my parents. The radio was on and they began to flip through the different stations, trying to decide what to keep playing until they decided to let me tell them when to stop. The beat to “Too Close” by Next caught my ears and I quickly told them to stop; little did we all know what the song was really about–but it sounded good, so we kept it on. From that point, the radio was always on that station just for me, and I couldn’t get enough of all of the R&B music–I still can’t get enough of it! Thank you, mom and dad, for that moment and always allowing me to become the woman I am today!

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: instagram.com/catchtwentyfour
• SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/catch24

Image Credits:
Additional photos 1. Jordan Nicholson 2. James Chrosniak 3. Valentin Saqueton 4. Sheldon Yagyagan (first/main photo by Sheldon Yagyagan)