The NBA’s DJ Shawna Spins to Make People Happy

27.03.2024 19:00

Thecut.com

Shawna Nicols — a.k.a. DJ Shawna — is the Milwaukee Bucks’ official DJ. Here, she shares how she made a name for herself, and how basketball prepared her for a career as a DJ.

Shawna Nicols traces her interest in music all the way back to her childhood kitchen. “I’ve had music in my life since I can remember,” she says. “My mom and my dad both have eclectic music tastes, and they were constantly playing music, constantly singing in the car and in the kitchen when they were cooking.”

That influence has been present throughout Nicols’s life. As a basketball player in high school, she’d make warm-up CDs for the team. Although she stuck with her sport through college, she didn’t consider DJ-ing until after she graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, when she moved back home to Milwaukee and started spending time in bars with her friends. “I’ve always been this sober athlete,” she explains. “So I started hanging out with the DJ,” and that’s how the seed was planted.

Still, Nicols wouldn’t become DJ Shawna until she returned from a two-year stint playing basketball internationally for Celeritas Donar in the Netherlands. At that point, she started working at Marquette University for the 2016-2017 season, and as a support, or opening DJ, for the Milwaukee Bucks. Now, she’s their official DJ, though she’s also spun for the Ryder Cup, NCAA Women’s Final Four, and the NBA All-Star Games. (Her songs of choice? “For me, that’s a lot of hip-hop and rap, but I don’t play the same things every single day because I would go crazy.”)

These days, Nicols continues to fuel her career with a range of different projects because, as she puts it, “There are no rules and there’s no straight line.” She’s recorded several of her own singles, launched a clothing line, and authored a children’s book, The Adventures of Bob and Downtown Milwaukee, honoring her late step-father. She’s grateful for a nonlinear career. ”One of the first things that I do on a regular basis — I wake up and I say thank you,” she says. “It’s something that I practice and it takes literally one second.

Here, Nicols shares how she made a name for herself, and how basketball prepared her for a career as a DJ.

How she gets ready for a game:

Prep time can vary from two to three hours to six or seven for each individual game. It doesn’t always happen, but I love to try to get some movement in, even if that’s just steps or walking. I’ve found that to be crucial for my physical health, and also my mental health. It gives my brain space to be a brain, and it gets my blood flowing. And I try to eat well. Because once you walk in those doors, you usually hit the ground running.

For the Bucks’ games, I start at half-court until tipoff, then I move to another area, and then another. It’s [the players’] workday, too, so I’m trying to tap into what they’re feeling. I don’t DJ for me. It’s for the players, and sometimes the coaches, and then obviously for the fans and the experience.

On how she made a name for herself:

I started with Marquette University Women’s Basketball, and coincidentally, that was also the first season I worked as a support for the Milwaukee Bucks. Marquette Women’s basketball also hosted the Big East Women’s Basketball Tournament that year — serendipitous, because normally DePaul hosts it — so I got to DJ and emcee that. I was like, All right, all these conference tournaments are happening. Who’s DJ-ing Women’s Final Four? I kid you not, I cold-called the NCAA, got a phone number that led me to a voicemail, and left a rambling voicemail on my backstory, how I was a former professional basketball player turned DJ, blah, blah, blah. I asked, “Who’s DJ-ing for you in Dallas?”

Someone called me back, coincidentally knew me from Wisconsin and had a character reference, and then I was working for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. A lot started for me that year, and it just continued to snowball. I went back to the University of Wisconsin-Madison as the official DJ, for football and basketball. I continued to build my relationship with the Milwaukee Bucks, and continued to grow with the NCAA. When COVID happened, I was one of four DJs who went to the NBA Bubble. And then I got brought on for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.

On what helps her throughout a game:

Sports IQ helps a lot. I’ve played soccer, I’ve played softball, I’ve played basketball, I’ve played volleyball, I’ve played hockey. I’m grateful for having been the athlete that I was. I really understand sports and that’s a huge gift to me that I honestly never thought would pay my bills. I think as an athlete, and that helps my flow. That’s a superpower I have that I feel very grateful for. But I also DJ with a lot of love. I try to catch that vibe and then just ride it — it doesn’t take much.

On the people who’ve helped her get where she is:

I had a mentor, and his name’s DJ Jeremy, the Lakers DJ — I started following him on Instagram and he’s since become one of my best friends. Another human I love dearly is DJ Amy Robbins. We have met once in real life — we were internet friends — but she’s the reason I get to work with Team USA. There’s just this sort of implicit trust. And there are people who look out for me; maybe they’re looking around the room or they’re thinking about an event and they’re like, We should get DJ Shawna involved. That’s amazing. It’s about building those friendships, those relationships. And that’s what I’m grateful for — people opening doors for me and [bringing me into] rooms where I would’ve never been invited.

On her advice to aspiring DJs:

You have to put the time in and be ready when that opportunity comes. The DJ part of it has to be ready, but you also have to show up as your best, ask questions. You can’t have an ego. The games that I get in, the teams I get to be a part of, aren’t about me. Basketball always taught me that. This is about adding value to the players’ days, but it’s also for everybody that is walking through those doors as a fan — it’s about their experience and trying to just make their day better. And they don’t need to know it’s coming from me, but it’s a huge honor to be able to be the one hopefully adding value. I DJ to make people happy.