Photo by Zuriel Lott
DJ Mando
For DJay Mando, a night on stage is about more than pressing play. The Milwaukee DJ has built his shows around music, dancers, choreography, live musicians and production. His goal is to give people an experience they will remember after the music stops.
Mando grew up in Milwaukee in a home where music was always present. His father is a percussionist who was a program director for the African dance company Ko-Thi. His mother was a dancer.
As a child, Mando listened closely to radio DJs. He studied how they moved from one song to another and thought of them almost like superheroes.
He started DJing as a hobby and kept going. “I just had so much fun doing it till I didn’t stop,” Mando said. “And eventually, I monetized it.”
Finding his own path
Mando said he did not have many DJ mentors when he was starting out. One exception was DJ Kritikal of the BangaBoyz, also known as Mr. Cow, who taught him the fundamentals when he was about 13 and made DJing fun.
Mando started DJing in high school and continued in college. He spent four years at UW-Madison, where he studied business. At first, he planned to go to law school. But around his junior year, he decided he wanted to DJ full time.
In 2016, Mando began pursuing DJing as a full-time career. He landed a club residency at Liquid in Madison and said he helped create a club culture there for about six months by bringing people out each week.
Mando said he started with only a laptop and later bought a DDJ-SR2, a controller he still uses today, after learning on CDJs during his club residency in Madison. Later that year, he performed at The Rave in Milwaukee as an opening DJ for Lil Uzi Vert. He had about five to 10 minutes to warm up a crowd of about 4,000 people.
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Building the Mando Experience
Photo by Zuriel Lott
DJ Mando with crew at Henry Maier Festival Park
Over time, Mando wanted his performances to become more than traditional DJ sets.
He began adding dancers and choreography, then brought a band into his headline shows. He said the additions came partly from feeling rejected by traditional DJs. “I was kind of anti-DJ in a sense,” Mando said. “DJs aren’t gonna accept me, then I don’t need y’all. I’ll just do my own.”
Creating a headline show starts with a concept and set list. Mando then works on production and sound design, turning recorded tracks into live tracks and adding sound effects.
The set list goes to dancers for choreography and to the band so musicians can learn their parts. Depending on the theme, stylists may also create custom clothing. “It just gives you so much that you can do with the music,” Mando said.
Mando described Milwaukee as a “dance city” and pointed to the claps that appear throughout Milwaukee music. He said the sound and energy can get people dancing and moving together. “I feel like the goal, for me, was always to inspire and to influence, and kind of raise the standard for DJs,” Mando said.
Creating opportunities for dancers
Photo by Zuriel Lott
Sarenide Attaway, Dancer for DJ Mando
The dancers who work with Mando are also using the shows to build their own careers.
Sarenide Attaway, who goes by Serenity, grew up in West Bend. She became interested in dance after watching shows such as “Bring It” and “Dance Moms.” She started dancing in middle school, competed in high school and continued training after college.
Attaway said she uses Mando’s shows as practice for larger opportunities. Her goals include working with an agency, performing in arenas and stadiums, and appearing in music videos for professional artists.
Bubbz, who is from Milwaukee, said his focus is on community and helping Milwaukee’s culture receive more attention. “The culture here is very, very, very rich,” Bubbz said.
He said his immediate goal is to share that culture in Milwaukee before expanding to cities such as Chicago and New York. “The immediate is be able to share the love in my city and then expand from that,” Bubbz said.
He said that expansion could include putting on his own shows or creating shows for other performers. For now, he wants to help make sure people in Milwaukee have opportunities before taking that work to other cities.
“Pretty much what Mando does,” Bubbz said, “just kind of make sure that people are straight in the city and then branch out into other cities and other places in the world.”
Attaway encourages young dancers to believe in their abilities and avoid self-doubt. She also said dancers should not compare themselves with people they see on social media.
Bubbz said young dancers and other artists should recognize their talents, stay focused and keep working toward their goals, even when success does not happen immediately.
“If you have talent, please use it,” Bubbz said. “Stay focused on the goal. Make a goal for yourself. Even if you don’t complete that goal in X amount of years, keep working at it because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Looking ahead
Mando said he wants to keep growing the On What?! MKE brand and expand the Mando Experience beyond Milwaukee.
He sees tours, concerts and eventually his own festival as possibilities. He has already mentored DJs on his team, including DJ Resonate and KB. He said they have watched his headline shows and used what they learned to create their own performances.
“The legacy is through the people that you helped,” he said.
For young DJs trying to follow his path, Mando has one warning: Do not try to become him. Mando wants young DJs to take what they like from his work, leave what they do not and create their own style. “You’re the only you,” he said. “So be you.”
DJay Mando's next scheduled show is “UTOPIA: A Travis Scott Dedication Experience” at The Rave / Eagles Club on Friday, October 9, 2026, at 9:30 p.m.
