DJ Stormy Munroe fell in love with mixing at first spin

DJ Stormy Munroe’s 24-year journey in the music industry has been punctuated with stints as a vice president of a major United States financial institution, an American reality TV star, and now a full-time disc jockey. Championing the belief in pursuing your passions, and being bold and authentic while doing it, the HBCU graduate is set on unleashing her fullest potential one turntable spin at a time.

Growing up in what she describes as a musically enriched household, having been born to a Trinidadian mother and a Guyanese father, DJ Stormy said the love for music was embedded in the fabric of her DNA. “My mom was a singer who used to travel the Caribbean and open shows for the popular calypsonian, Mighty Sparrow. My dad was also an avid lover of all genres of music. This initial exposure to the art form played a tremendous role in my entire life and all of my relationships,” noted Munroe.

Migrating to the culturally diverse musical landscape of New Orleans at the age of three also had a profound impact, influencing her style and flow as a DJ. There, she eventually worked in the music industry as an artiste manager and promoter until 2005 when the catastrophic Hurricane Katrina prompted her move to Atlanta. The relocation, however, took a toll on her music management pursuits resulting in a switch to corporate America.

Despite climbing the corporate ladder to become vice president of a major financial institution and one of the youngest and the only woman of colour sitting in the boardroom, the beats were still calling. “I was very happy on the one hand, but I was also very sad because I was missing something. I had a burning desire to be a part of the music industry. In 2014, I started promoting at a small club in Atlanta as one of the only female promoters in the area, then got into the music booth and started at the turntables,” she shared. “In 2015 I dropped my first EDM, hip-hop-infused album called Venom Kisses. I quickly realised that being a performing artiste wasn’t my calling, it was the control of the music that I loved. So in 2016 I became a DJ. I was doing both DJing and my corporate job. The nine-to-five had gone through some structural changes and I was offered a bigger position. I decided not to take the offer, but to instead take some time off. And, that time-off turned into four years of being a full-time entertainer.”

In this male-dominated industry, DJ Stormy has maintained her edge and managed to make significant strides as a female disc jockey. Currently ranked in the Top 100 female DJs in the US, DJ Stormy Munroe has made celebrity guest appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Network’s Ready To Love, Paramount Pictures’ Like a BOSS with Tiffany Haddishand Selma Hayek, VH1, Bravo and Starz.

Toward the end of the summer, Atlanta’s Top 20 Female DJ of the Year welcomed a partnership with premium beer Heineken to create a stir at the brand’s After-Work Pop-up series at the Sea Island Beach Club in Montego Bay.

Looking ahead, the DJ hopes to leave a mark on young girls looking to pursue their dreams. “I want to accomplish more being a top female DJ by having corporate sponsorships, and endorsements. I would also like to do a show that’s specifically driven for DJs and travel. But I also want to open doors for women in the industry. My encouragement to young women is to be bold in everything they do and always go against the grain.”