Behind the Board

WRITTEN BY GIA KRUPENS

ILLUSTRATION BY TINA HUNG

When you go out to a bar, there is usually one defining thing about the night that you remember the next day. Maybe it was a really good drink or an awkward encounter with a stranger. For Havni Rami, it’s always the music.

Rami is a 21-year-old criminal justice major here at LBSU, but not only that, she’s also a defining element at many of the on-campus events. She’s the music.

As the Student Music Director at 22 West Radio, more often than not, Rami is the person behind the sound you hear at events like Week of Welcome, Smorgasport, and Speed Friending. Unknown to most students, she is the one mixing the music that you’re dancing to between classes.

“I used to go out to downtown Fullerton and there was a bar that we went to called Hopscotch,” she recalled. “We went just to chill and it ended up being a party because of the DJ and I was like ‘Wow, he turned the whole night out.’ Just because of him it switched the whole entire vibe and I think that’s when I really started considering it.”

When she started college in Fall 2021, Rami had no DJ experience besides a casual love for music and her inspiration from watching previous DJs during her nights out. She got involved with 22 West Media as a volunteer, hosting her own radio show, “Havin’ a Word with Havni.” It was there that she connected with the Music Director at the time, Salvador Villanueva Ramirez, who encouraged her to start mixing music.

“He was never judgemental,” Rami said. “He taught me at the level I was at and it was really easy to try new things. I remember one time I came in and I had a flash drive full of Middle Eastern music and I was like ‘I want to start mixing this,’ and he helped.”

It was that support that helped Rami grow as a DJ and see mixing as something she could realistically do. She continued to practice with Villanueva and tried mixes until she got it right. Eventually, her practice paid off when she was hired as a Performance DJ with 22 West Radio in January 2023.

“One of my first gigs on campus was Week of Welcome,” Rami says. “It was hard because I didn’t want to let Sal down because he believed in me enough to hire me. My brother had come, my sister who doesn’t even go here had come… it was nerve-wracking, but after I was like ‘Ok, I can do this. I like it, I enjoy it. This is fun.’”

Rami continued to only grow from there. In August 2024, Rami was promoted to Music Director at 22 West Radio and took over most of the gigs. She became the face behind the board at tons of on-campus events. She has played at every Week of Welcome for the past two years, hosted 22 West Nights at The Nugget, and worked more events in the USU Ballrooms than she can count.

Playing on campus gave Rami the tools to succeed, but where she really thrives is the personal gigs she does off-campus. Since turning 21 last April, Rami has played in a few local bars around Long Beach, including The Bungalow, Port City Tavern, and Legends Sports Bar.

“One of my first bar gigs was The Stache Bar,” Rami said. “I was like, ‘What am I getting myself into?’ I have to work prices, have to promote more, have to get a younger crowd . . . it was just a lot of work. You do all the work and get the reward at the end with everyone having fun.”

It’s those personal gigs that Rami gets to really have fun with. She works off the crowd to build the vibe of the night, gets to experiment more with certain songs, and immerses herself in the people around her.

“You’re reading body language,” she said. “Reading what they look like, looking at what they’re doing – if they’re dancing or bobbing their head. When the night first starts, it’s always ratioed old people to young. When 10:30 kicks in, younger people are coming in, so now you start playing music that they’re going to dance to, which influences the older people to start dancing.”

She puts effort into making sure she’s providing the best atmosphere for everyone around her, but it’s not without the hard work and emotion behind the scenes. For Rami, it can still be nerve-wracking every time she does a gig, no matter how many successful ones she’s pulled off in the past.

“It’s like a birthday party,” she said. “Each gig is your birthday party and you hope someone shows up. I just want everyone to have fun at this party.”

All of it pays off for Rami when she sees the result of her hard work. The special moments are what makes DJing something she loves, like the girls who buy her shots during the night, the compliments from the bouncers on her way out, and the people that recognize her from gigs around town. It’s the small memories and connections that make all the other work worth it.

“I like having fun with people,” she said. “I think it’s really fun to be like the curator of the night. It’s just the connection with different people that I would never have met. Really random human interactions that would never happen.”

Rami gets to invest in those connections by continuing the legacy of Villanueva. Every Thursday she teaches DJ Class at 22 West Radio, the same place where she first got her start mixing. She works with students who were once just like her and gets to show them the ropes. It’s more than just part of the job description for Rami, it’s helping and connecting with the students that are in the same position she was once in.

“Seeing someone really get a mix down, that’s really fun. That’s the best part of it. They feel proud of themselves and I helped them do that,” she said.

Through all the best and worst gigs, the one constant for Rami is her passion for music. For her, recognizing the music is always what the gigs are about, and she hopes it’s the same for those listening.

“What makes a good gig? What makes it a good gig is people appreciating the music.”