Today we’d like to introduce you to Flavia Xexeo
Hi Flavia, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started my journey as a DJ in 2003, and I never stopped. At the same time, I pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education, driven by my love for movement and exercise.
In 2008, I came to Los Angeles to stay with my American brother and spent a year studying English. However, my DJ career in Brazil was taking off, so I decided to move back. By then, I was one of the first female hip-hop DJs to break into the mainstream. From 2009 to 2020, I was at the peak of my career, working with major brands like Nike, Tiffany & Co., and Shell, and co-founding Eletrobase Academia de DJ in Rio, where we trained over 300 students.
Despite my success, personal struggles and shifts in the music industry made things more challenging. When the pandemic hit, it became impossible for me to stay in Brazil, so I took advantage of having family in the U.S. and decided to start fresh.
Starting over as a DJ in a new country wasn’t easy—no connections, language barriers, immigration limitations—but I embraced the challenge. Since 2021, it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions, adapting to a new life and changing visa statuses. In 2023, I met my husband, and now I finally feel like I’m putting down roots here.
Currently, I DJ regularly at The Lighthouse Café in Hermosa Beach and other venues in the area. As I continue to establish myself in the U.S., I’m also expanding my horizons. With a Master’s in Business, I’m exploring new career paths while staying connected to my passion for music.
It’s been a journey, full of ups and downs, but I’m grateful for the people I’ve met and the opportunities ahead.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road—quite the opposite. Starting over in a new country as a DJ came with a lot of challenges. In Brazil, I had built a solid career, but moving to the U.S. meant leaving behind my reputation, connections, and stability. I had to prove myself all over again in a place where I wasn’t a native, faced language barriers, and had immigration limitations that affected my opportunities.
me more stability, and now I’m in a better place to grow both as a DJ and in other areas of my career. It’s been a journey, but every challenge has pushed me to evolve, and I’m grateful for that.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced since moving to the U.S. is adapting to an entirely different musical culture. Back in Brazil, we consumed so much American music—especially hip-hop—that I felt deeply connected to it. That’s how I built my career. But living here, I quickly realized that experiencing a culture from the outside is completely different from growing up in it.
It sounds obvious, but it was a real shift in perspective: Americans were born into their own music culture, shaped by personal experiences, nostalgia, and regional influences. What a song means to someone here—how it hits them emotionally on the dance floor—can be entirely different from how I perceived it back home. That’s been the biggest challenge for me as an artist: not just playing music, but truly understanding what moves people here.
I’ve had to study audiences in a whole new way, constantly learning what surprises them, what triggers emotions, what makes them dance—even the songs they didn’t know they wanted to hear. That’s always been my signature as a DJ: creating moments that make people feel something unexpected, whether it’s nostalgia, energy, or pure excitement.
Adapting to a new country while staying true to my artistry is an ongoing journey, but it’s also what keeps me inspired. It pushes me to keep evolving and finding new ways to connect with people through music.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Most people who follow me or know my work see me as confident and in control behind the decks, but what they might not know is that I’m extremely shy when it comes to performing on big stages. I still get nervous every single time—sometimes to the point where it actually hurts my stomach.
It’s funny because DJing is such a huge part of who I am, and I’ve done it for so many years, but that feeling never fully goes away. I’ve just learned to push through it. I think that’s something a lot of artists experience but don’t always talk about—our vulnerabilities. People see the final performance, the energy, the connection with the crowd, but behind that, there’s always a personal battle with nerves, self-doubt, or pressure.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flaviaxexeo?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/wY5E7y7oBVbPL9ve8
