ABOUT DJ SHAE:
Shannone Holt (DJ Shae) has been expressing herself musically for live audiences since she was two years old. Standing on a chair, she belted out her first solo in her father’s church was able to experience very early in life, how people can be moved by powerful emotion conveyed through music.
A native of Nashville, Tennessee who has lived in New York City, Stockholm, Sweden, Cape Town, South Africa, and Spain, Shannone is the daughter of a doo-wop singer turned pastor, and a pianist and school teacher, who shared their love of music with their daughter and provided her with as many opportunties to express her musical creativity as they could. They further expanded her exposure by enrolling her in classical piano lessons at the age of 6. When she was 8 years old, her family moved to Flint, Michigan and they enrolled her in violin lessons with Norwegian instructor Kari Povich and shortly after, she joined the Flint Symphony Orchestra. They kept her active by exposing her to acting and drama groups with whom she began touring the country at age 10. As a teenager, while living in NYC, she felt drawn to Classic Hip Hop, R&B, Rock and Country. She immersed herself in the cultures of each community her family moved to, which expanded her musical diversity and influences. Shannone released her first vocal solo EP entitled the Shannone Holt EP in 2005, and in 2006, toured the country performing her original songs while accompanying herself on both the piano and guitar for intimate coffee house college gatherings, large auditoriums, and eventually for weddings, further developing her innate ability to perform diversely and read her environment. When she returned from touring, she was asked to lend her voice to a Public Service Announcement entitled “100 Percent Human,” which led to her being discovered as a model. This started her long-standing successful modeling career during which she appeared on Project Runway Season 5 and VH1’s Model Employee. She also made appearances on Starz’ Power and HBO’s Billions as well as walking the runway 5 years in a row for Mercedes Benz NY Fashion Weeks. She has appeared in several fashion and beauty magazines including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Instyle, Shape and Essence, as well as several national and international commercials (she appeared in the Dos Equis Interactive Masquerade, Blinds to Go "Yoga Man" Commercial, Chess Cell Phone commercial in Norway as well as several Ackerman’s clothing commercials in South Africa) and national campaigns including Clinique, Century 21 Department Store, Hanes, and Nivea. She has been represented by agencies in NYC, Hamburg, London and Cape Town, South Africa.
Her travels as a model throughout Europe, Africa, Central America and Asia increased her exposure to the music of other countries all around the world and inspired her to discover her passion for DJing, and later producing. She was the DJ for the former WordUp Fm online radio station, and her musical selections drew listeners from all over the world. In 2015, she began DJing at bars and clubs throughout NYC and Brooklyn, and eventually for private events throughout the United States (NYC, The Hamptons, San Diego, Boston, Philadelphia, Palm Beach, Houston, and Aspen) and Mexico (San Miguel de Allende), in venues including The Waldorf Astoria, Cipriani, The Pierre, The Four Seasons (Boston & Philadelphia), Cal-a-Vie Health Spa, The Everglades Club, Rosewood San Miguel de Allende, and Carnegie Hall. In 2022, she was enlisted to produce the soundtrack for the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, TN's video submission to the Association for Museum Exhibition Awards. An open format DJ, her musical taste is the sum total of her life experiences and some of her favorite genres to DJ are Deep, Progressive and Disco House, Electronica, Hip-Hop, R&B and Dance Music. Now based in Costa Rica, she enjoys interweaving World Music, Organic and Afro House, South American, Tribal Music, Shamanic Drums, Healing Mantras and Solfeggio Frequencies into her Ecstatic Dance experiences.
