Today we’d like to introduce you to Cody Cordova.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Cody. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Well it all started in a well-known city, aka the capital, of California called Sacramento. The City of Tree’s as it once was famously called before they changed the iconic water tower in the city to now say “Sacramento: America’s Farm to Fork Capital.” Albeit I enjoy the push towards the organic whole foods approach to diet, the City of Tree’s will forever be my hometown where I grew up. I happened to grow up on the east side of Sacramento in a city called Rancho Cordova. There used to be a thriving Military Airbase there until it shut down, forcing many families to leave, however many families could not afford to just uproot their lives and go. This ripple effect made Rancho Cordova a little more ghetto than it used to be back in the 60’s and 70’s. Gang’s ran rampant in this urban sect of culture. Growing up was learning how to adapt in an urban jungle, how to handle yourself, and learning the in’s and out’s surviving in a street environment. I went to Cordova High School and graduated in 2014. This school was like a melting pot of ethnicity. It was one of the most diverse schools in the city. This is where I learned who Moldavian’s, Belorussian’s, and Green and White Hmong, etc. Such diversity also introduced me to a wide plethora of music. Not to mention I also have an intense music background growing up. I played the violin for 8+ years, and was also apart of the Sacramento Youth Symphony for a few years. If you could imagine this, I was the half-white, half-Spanish kid (who looked 100% Caucasian) who thrived in the hood and also was in all AP and Honor’s classes. I got to experience both worlds, the extremely proficient business and college academic world, and the dark criminal infested hood world. I learned to adapt in both scenarios and became a stronger person because of it.
It all started with my 16th birthday. My parents blessed me with 2 harbingers 15s speakers and an amp to go with them. At the time, I also had a Hercules rmx DJ controller that I was practicing with. Now I could finally play my music to an audience! I started out doing house parties around the neighborhood. Then I realized very quickly that I am A.) providing my own time and equipment and B.) offering a service. So I realized I could totally be charging for this, and thus my paid DJ career had begun. I was now charging to throw house parties. I was also getting some gigs playing at Hookah Lounges and such.
When I was about 19 years old, I moved to Los Angeles. I took all my equipment with me from Sacramento. Dedicated and ready to conquer, I started talking to my network of people to see what I could make happen in LA. A lot of my earlier gigs was due in part to a man named KD Dawson who also moved to LA from Sac. We both went to the same high school and I even DJ’d his gigs when he started a little party throwing company. He was trying to do the same thing out in LA, throw parties and events, so immediately we clicked up. After about a year I got a job at Universal Studios doing the live show for the Harry Potter world. This didn’t stop me from DJ’ing as I would still play events on the side. Then I left Universal, and have dedicated all of my time to my music career. Now we are in 2017 and I am killin’ the private party game in the valley. I have put myself on Yelp, Google Maps, LinkedIn, Thumbtack, etc. I am also paying to get marketing and advertisement done for myself which has helped me establish a status on google. Now when you search “CODYCORDOVA” on Google it shows that I am DJ based out of LA. I am working hard every day to continue up with my great success and only reach more success in the future!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Well… one large problem that I forgot to mention was that I had Lyme disease majority of the time growing up. If you don’t know what Lyme disease is: it is an infectious disease caused by bacteria of the Borrelia type which is spread by ticks. It causes a whole host of problems spreading from behavioral, emotional, physical, and mental. I was suffering from emotional and behavioral issues. At the time, I had it I did not feel any emotions at all. Life was like black and white, actually it was more a grey blend of everything. I used to “do things” just to see if I would feel emotion. This list of things ranged from crazy to mean, to helpful and productive. I would test every situation and scenario to see if I would feel any reaction to them. I didn’t know anything was wrong with myself, but I definitely knew something was “off” to say the very least. Around the end of my senior year in high school my mom got me a brain scan in San Francisco by an amazing Doctor that my therapist had actually recommended (I mention my therapist because if it weren’t for him I may have never been cured). The scan itself was $4,000 and I knew my parents didn’t just have that kind of money laying around. I cried out in vehement, “I’m fine mom there’s nothing wrong with me, I’m just like everybody else.” Now mind you I was growing up in the hood and my idea of “what everybody else was like” was a like skewed. Sure enough after the 3 day brain scan they noticed my brain displayed symptoms of PTSD. So I had to follow up with some blood work to make sure that I didn’t have any infections. What do you think I tested 100% positive for? Lyme disease, and what’s really crazy is that my doctor said that 50% of people with Lyme actually fail that test. So I had it, full blown Lyme disease. My treatment was 3 months of heavy antibiotics plus a miracle pill called Alinia. It was absolutely awful. I had just graduated high school, it was summer time, everyone was going out, but I couldn’t do much because I was bound by a strict regimen of pills to consume plus the antagonizing side effects of 7+ antibiotics. One of the worst adverse reactions was sensitivity to sunlight. I couldn’t be in any sunlight or I would literally start to sizzle. I developed 2nd degree burns on my left arm from driving, my skin was actually bubbling from the burn. My first week into college at Sacramento State University and I finally was cured. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but life felt different. I had all my emotions come running back, and everybody was finally like yay you are cured.
However, the hardships continued. After being cured, I had a wave of emotions crash into me like things I had never experienced before. I had gone 4+ years without remembering what emotions were or felt like, and suddenly feeling everything again was a challenge. The 1st year I cried a lot and was easily confused or overwhelmed. Second year I started getting a grip on my emotions but will still lash or act out on such emotions. Now I am 21 years old and I have a pretty solid grasp on my emotional state. I now know what causes the emotions I feel and it gives me power and advantage to be able to “sit back” and accurately gauge a situation instead of just reacting. Of course, being in LA has also helped a lot because of all the amazing, interesting, and weird people I have met. Each social interaction helps me understand and build my character and an understanding of people in general.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about CODYCORDOVA – what should we know?
My business “CODYCORDOVA” used to be called “Hyphee Cody” when I first started out DJ’ing and producing music. I put out some songs on beatport and iTunes, but realized that I just didn’t like the name anymore. So thus, CODYCORDOVA was born, as it is my first and last name and people have always told me all my life growing up that I have a catchy name. So I figured why not? CODYCORDOVA is the brand that I chose for my music production and DJ’ing services. I have lots of tracks out on streaming websites such as Soundcloud, Spotify, and iTunes, etc. I have some personal releases I put out myself featuring some friends of mine who are also artists. I specialize in providing an atmosphere for events that everyone can connect to. I am very keen on observing the crowd and analyzing them to help me better understand the music that I need to play next. Yes, I want to showcase all my cool music, but I focus solely on what the people want. That’s what separates me from most DJ’s: the ability to understand and “communicate” with the crowd solely with music. I am known for always turning an event all the way up. No matter if it’s a 12-year-old birthday party, or 55-year-old wedding, I will get those hips moving and bodies dancing! It’s in my guarantee when I book gigs. I tell them that I will cater to the specific sound desired at any event! I am most proud in the fact that I did most all of this by myself. Just by networking, word of mouth, social media, learning how to advertise, etc. Now mind you my older brother did give me a lot of advice pertaining to the world of entertainment, however he is not a DJ or in the music industry so I had to apply his advice and knowledge and mold it to work with what I was doing.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I feel that the consumer’s happiness is the most ultimate factor to my success. The money comes after that. There’s no greater feeling then seeing people caught in the moment of pure ecstasy caused by dancing to the right beat. The satisfaction that runs over me is simply not measurable when I successfully “capture” an entire audience with my mixing and music selection. I know that my success plays into the factor of consumer satisfaction rates and reviews. If I DJ a really good party, chances are those people who hired me: will hire me again, or tell their friends about me. I am all for consumer enjoyment and satisfaction.
Pricing:
- Personal Parties, House Parties, Grad Parties, etc: $250-$500
- Weddings, Corporate Events/Nights, etc: $800-$1,500
Contact Info:
- Website: www.codycordova.com
- Phone: 916 601 7446
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hypheecody/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CODYCORDOVAmusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hypheecody
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/codycordova-los-angeles
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6u6RXebZT4KSdW8GUbKEJA
Image Credit:
@shotbykyle – Kyle Wayne Cordova (my older brother)
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
