Today we’d like to introduce you to Vanesa Seco.
Hi Vanesa, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My name is Vanesa Seco. I have been shuffle dancing, content creating, and running my fashion line and other businesses for over 5 years now in the city of Los Angeles, but I’m originally from Miami!
In 2016 was when it all began. My life at this time was that of an average college girl trying to figure it out, drowning in debt, and going to school for something I wasn’t really passionate about (pre-law). My family was undergoing some pretty tough financial and immigration struggles also, so this era was very much filled with fear and doubt and a lot of unfulfillment.
I started to shuffle dancing while in college in 2016 after I found a girl named Elena Cruz shuffle dancing on social media (Instagram). I also started seeing shuffling at EDM music festivals and fell in love with it! I had never seen it before and I grew obsessed with the style of dance, I had always loved dance and music but before this discovery of shuffle, I didn’t really have the confidence to just go for it!
I also was very intrigued by the idea of doing it online as an influencer. I started posting videos from the very beginning of my journey and people really seemed to like it. My socials started growing like crazy. It seemed like people really didn’t love me for my “perfection” in dance (which I definitely didn’t have at that time) but more for my joy and captions I wrote messages of believing in yourself and going after your dreams.
After much hard work and dedication to my craft; making endless shuffle concept videos, shuffle collaborations, teaching classes all over the U.S., and ultimately taking my team “shuffolution” into America’s Got Talent last year in 2021; I finally reached a million followers on Instagram and 2.4 million on Tiktok and became the most followed and influential female shuffler in the world. I just completed my 22-city tour teaching shuffle classes with over 100 people in every city across the U.S.
It has been a wild ride!! Family is the most important thing in my life and I truly wouldn’t be here without them! We are a family business. After my big success and growth in the EDM world, my mom and sister, and I started our own festival wear line from here in our at-home studio. It has been one of our biggest successes yet! People were always so obsessed with what we were wearing at music festivals, so we decided to start a brand: Diosa By Seco.
Also, my brother is the director and cinematographer of all of the concept videos. It takes a village and without them, my business would not be what it is today!
Vanesa Seco is a professional shuffle dancer, choreographer, singer & content creator based in Los Angeles, CA. She’s a pioneer in the EDM community well known for beginning the shuffle movement on social media. Today she is the #1 followed, most influential shuffle dancer in the world. Her viral choreographed shuffle videos have cultivated
an international craze and have gained her over 2 million followers on TikTok, 1 million followers on Instagram, and over 40,000 subscribers on YouTube. Her most recent endeavor was creating the first professional shuffle team @shuffolution that competed on the 16th season of America’s Got Talent in 2021. And just completed her 22-city shuffle tour teaching shuffle across the U.S. this summer of 2022!
She co-founded and owns the clothing brand @diosabyseco a world-class festival clothing brand that has been featured in leading publications like Paper Magazine and is her family-owned brand with HQ at her EDM music
festival-inspired content house @casacontentaa.
Alright, 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?
There definitely have been many struggles! Fighting your ego every day is a battle in itself and living and working with my family is a blessing and a curse, hahaha!
With family drama and my parents getting a divorce it has been a wild ride. Not to mention my family is a crazy Latin family so the biggest obstacle has been learning to not fall into our ego and choose love and understanding always.
Also, the conversation about mental health always pops up as a struggle for me. Making sure that I’m being fueled to create art from passion and not from the desire for numbers. You can get really addicted to the validation that the internet gives you and it can become so toxic. Thankfully I’m always able to check myself and create from a place of love and raw inspiration.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I shuffle dance. This is a dance style done to EDM, house music, techno, etc. it’s a high-energy footwork style of dance. I have been shuffling for 6 years now and I specialize in shuffling on social media; creating shuffle music videos with my team and production company: Seco Media Group. I am also a teacher of shuffle dance and was one of the first people to start teaching it in the world. It is still an up-and-coming dance style and I have been a pioneer for the style of dance!
I’m definitely known for my videos on social media where I bring a lot of shufflers together and make shuffle choreo videos in public that people love to watch! This was a dance style that thrived in “freestyle” but now thanks to my strides, I brought the element of choreography into the mix and it has become super popular on the internet. The choreography element with shuffling is really what made it blow up, and I can proudly say I pioneered that!
I’m definitely most proud of being the most followed female shuffler in the world! Also proud of leading my team Shuffolution onto America’s Got Talent last year in 2021, where we got to the quarterfinals! And this year my biggest achievement has been completing my first shuffle tour to 22 cities in the United States!
What sets me apart from others is definitely my energy, charisma, drive, consistency, and uplifting mentality. My followers and fans love me for more than just dancing. It’s about the energy I bring to the table and the thousands of people I’ve been able to inspire to get up and dance, get up and believe in themselves, and get up and stop sleeping on themselves!
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I always loved dance. But my parents were going through a tough financial time and I couldn’t afford to do it professionally or in competitions (it’s an expensive sport).
So instead I did cheerleading and ended up being captain of the team. I always had leadership energy!!
I was always very active. I loved being out in the sun. Listening to music. Moving my body.
Contact Info:
- Website: Vansecoo.com and shufflewithvan.com
- Instagram: @vansecoo
- Youtube: Vanesa Seco
- Tiktok: @vansecoo
