Today we’d like to introduce you to Jayda Abello.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m a self-made self-paid woman from Atlanta Proper currently hustling as a vinyl DJ and visual artist and now living…who knows where! I was born at home, delivered by my grandmother in a shotgun house in the West End. Raised in the city by a strong, single mother, Jessica Gerstenberger, owner of Star Salon in Little 5 Points. I’ve spent most of my life in the same five-mile radius, living in Midtown, Morningside, East Atlanta, Candler Park, Virginia Highlands, and everywhere in between. I dropped out of high school when I was 15 and have spent nearly every day since then having fun, making art, making friends, and enthusiastically seeking out anything that’s cool! I’ve always been obsessed with music, art, and pop culture—and my life and personal style really reflect that. I am living the life I always hoped I would when I was a kid, my inner child hangs posters of me in her locker!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Certainly not, but I’m proud of where I came from and of the things I’ve endured; I believe that our trials and tribulations shape who we are. My mom and I had some tough times while I was growing up. I definitely had that tale as old as time, latch key city kid upbringing. My mom raised me by herself so I learned firsthand from her the importance of street smarts, making your own money, independence, and a supportive community. So I was raised to not take any shit, but I had my fair share of challenges as a young adult. I’ve experienced substance abuse and addiction, domestic violence, sexual assault, toxic friends, shady landlords, discrimination by employers, you name it. I’m so very happy to say I’ve come a long way and somehow managed to transcend it all—though, not always gracefully. I worked in the service industry as a bartender for over ten years, which had made me some great money but I felt stuck in what I considered to be a toxic work environment.
People (especially femme-identifying people) who work in bars and restaurants are expected to do so much; there can be a lot of emotional labor involved with customers, overextending yourself and working when you’re sick is just the normal standard, drug use is rampant, and there’s a lot of deplorable behavior by employers that gets shrugged off and swept under the rug. When the pandemic began, obviously all of my jobs closed. Then after months of not bartending, I realized how much less stressed I felt being removed from that world and I really didn’t want to go back to living that way. So I decided to stay out and just rely on my creativity to make my living, which I’m so lucky I get to even choose that. So now I have made the switch from bartender to solopreneur and while it does get pretty intense, (it can be a matter of feast or famine,) I am so proud of myself for taking the leap and I don’t regret a thing! My mental and spiritual wellbeing is my number one priority these days and stepping into this period of my life as a full-time, creative, one-woman show has been so healing and empowering.
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 absolutely love my job as a DJ! I honestly never even really considered playing music for money up until a few years ago, but it’s so fun and it really suits me. I get to play music I love, meet awesome people, and be my own boss! Being my own boss is probably the best part of it. What sets me apart from other DJs is my record collection! I think that’s what’s really cool about the DJ scene, like, we all have our own unique collections. Even if a friend of mine is into a lot of the same stuff as me, I know if I go to their place and check out their records, it’ll be a totally different combination that’s pinpointedly specific to that person. It’s like a sonic fingerprint! You can really learn a lot about a person by what music they’re passionate about. I really love to bounce around every genre and era in my sets.
Literally anybody and everybody will hear a song they can vibe to when I’m playing. The most fun gigs I book are the ones where I can just totally do my own thing with (seemingly) no rhyme or reason. I have some tricks up my sleeve for sure, but every single set I play is improvised totally off the cuff. I take so many things into account when I’m playing, not just BPM. I’m picking my next song right there based off of lyrical content, atmosphere, aesthetics, cultural references, maybe even inside jokes…On paper, my sets might look chaotic—but if you come out and hear me play, I think you’ll be delighted by how I tie so many different songs and moods together.
A lot of people know me for my art as well; I was living in Brooklyn from 2018-2020 and doing an autobiographical comic on my Instagram that gained me a modest-but-strong following and introduced me to a lot of cool people in the art world (like my hero, cartoonist Katie Skelly, who I briefly worked as an assistant to.) In 2020, I released a collection of autobio comics and excepts from my written diary called “Numb Blonde,” which sold out in its first week and is now in its second and final printing. I was also a regular contributor to Razorcake’s Webcomic Wednesdays.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
As a kid, I loved just hanging out in my room listening to music, drawing, and reading comics (Sailor Moon, Peach Girl, Love And Rockets, Blue Monday) spending ungodly amounts of time looking at anything and everything on the Internet. I’ve always been a devoted fan girl to anything I loved; whenever I found a new band, I wanted to learn every single thing about them and to find other people who were into the same thing. I lived on message boards, chat rooms, blogs, Napster, Limewire, all that pre-social media internet stuff. I’ve been a loyal customer of Criminal Records for the better part of my life and spent nearly every dollar I had between there and Pink Flamingos, this little boutique in L5P that sold all kinds of cute stuff like rhinestone barrettes, Hello Kitty lunchboxes, etc. I loved having my own money so I was always finding ways to make it—dog walking, cat feeding, babysitting, sweeping up hair at the salon for my mom, whatever. My mom had me when she was young and raised me by herself. She worked pretty much every day, so I spent a lot of time by myself. I was always taking myself for walks around the city, usually staying out of trouble. I was smart but absolutely miserable in Highschool (Grady & Druid Hills) and I ended up dropping out. As a teenager, I wanted badly to just be grown-up (like I thought I was) so I could go clubbing and do other stuff I thought adults did. I acquired several fake IDs along the way and would go out with my other underage girlfriends, although after a while, we had flirted with every door guy in town so we didn’t really need them to get in. I think I had like three 21st birthday parties, oops!
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.Jayda-abello.com
- Instagram: @americansquirm
Image Credits:
Mia Evedith, Michael Bostinto
