Photo by Samer Ghani
DJ Shawna
DJ Shawna
DJ Shawna is a staple of Milwaukee live entertainment. An open-format DJ with affable charm, she is the official DJ and producer for both the Milwaukee Bucks and NCAA Women’s Final Four. Whether she is performing at a Bucks game, PrideFest, Summerfest or at Walker’s Pint, DJ Shawna is a benevolent force of the 414 cultural renaissance. She is notably one of only three women resident DJs in the NBA as well as the first who has been part of a championship.
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Shawna Nicols grew up playing basketball and had been on the team at UW-Madison. While she had the opportunity to travel and play all over the world, Shawna always loved coming home, stating, “I’m very proud to be from Milwaukee. I even have “414” tattooed on me.”
Music was just as formative to her youth as basketball. “We always had music on, both in the house and in the car,” Shawna recalls. “My parents had eclectic tastes and I’m grateful to have grown up listening to really good music.”
Shawna would make CDs for her and her high school and college teammates to warm up to. “I love being a hype person and playing music that makes people happy,” she continues. “Basketball and music always had a symbiotic relationship for me.”
Hanging with the DJ
She did not think professional DJing would be her career path. However, upon graduating from school and moving back to Milwaukee, that changed. “My peers and I would hang out at Walker’s Pint a lot,” Shawna reminisces. “I never drank alcohol and have always been sober, and I can be kind of shy and awkward in social situations, especially being in my early 20s at the time (laughs). But I still wanted to be out hanging with my people, and I started hanging out with the DJ there. His name was DJ Rock Dee.”
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Shawna would see the legendary Milwaukee performer every Saturday night. One day Rock Dee asked Shawna if she DJed herself. She responded no, and he told her to call him once she got two turntables and a mixer. Shawna remembers, “I called him the next day.”
DJ Rock Dee became Shawna’s mentor, teaching her the ins and outs of DJing. “That man saw something in me and I’m so grateful to him,” she said, choking up. “He has since passed and I miss him dearly. I wish I could talk to him again and just share with him that I DJed a Bucks championship.”
In fact, Rock Dee is the one who gave her the name DJ Shawna. “Once I knew that DJing was going to become a significant part of my life, I wanted to make sure I was representing the culture well and doing it right,” she explains. “I was learning how to beatmatch on vinyl and it took me forever, but Rock Dee would just be there with me when no one else was, sitting in the middle of the bar just bobbing his head. I remember the day it happened; he said that my name is too perfect and unique, so that was it. DJ Shawna.”
Hoop Dreams
From there, DJ Shawna began performing around the Milwaukee scene. Once she connected with big players like DJ Roueche (official DJ of the Los Angeles Lakers and AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour) and DJ O (first official Milwaukee Bucks DJ), one thing led to another, and Shawna became a DJ for the Marquette women’s basketball team as well as for the NCAA Women’s Final Four in 2017. “I loved it,” she affirms. “It was unbelievable. I got to be part of basketball again but in a new way, and I’ve never looked back.”
Shawna became a DJ for the Bucks during their 2016-17 season, eventually being named their official DJ for the 2019-20 season. She emphasizes that the experience has built a genuine bond between her and the team. “In 2020 when Black Lives Matter was going on and the shooting of Jacob Blake happened, the Bucks boycotted Game 5, and that was a real teaching moment for me. I want to show up and be there for them however I can.”
When the Bucks won the 2021 championship, Shawna describes everything leading up to that moment as “fueled by adrenaline” and that the Milwaukee people really carried the energy; she just got to provide the soundtrack for it, elaborating, “I remember getting on headset to our executive producer Johnny Watson saying, “this is gonna happen.” And then it did, and there was so much pride in being a part of that. It was exhausting but so jubilating. You could feel the heartbeat of the city.”
Be Your Best
Dare To Be debuted around the same time Shawna started DJing for the Bucks. “I wanted to create something that was bigger than me,” she shares. “When you’re an athlete your whole life, it’s kind of ingrained in you that it’s always about the name on the front of your jersey more than the name on the back, and that’s how it came about.”
The brand encourages the wearer to be their best self against all odds, which is open to interpretation with each passing day. Dare to Be merchandise encompasses shirts, hats, hoodies, joggers and more. Shawna has incorporated motivational speaking and podcasting into the mission as well.
Notable for sale in Dare To Be’s store is a children’s book Shawna wrote and published titled The Adventures of Bob and Downtown Milwaukee! which follows a dog’s journey around Cream City.
Shawna gives the book’s heartfelt backstory, “Bob was our first family dog. My stepdad Joe at the time got diagnosed with stage four terminal cancer, and whenever he had to go in for treatments, I would always take care of Bob and go on walks with her. For whatever reason, Bob always sat still and let me take pictures of her.”
After Joe passed away, Shawna wanted to continue being there for her mother any way she could. Getting creative with her photos of Bob, Shawna created the children’s book for her mother as a surprise. “Joe had a knack for adventure, and that’s what I want to instill in folks,” she conveys. “It came together really quickly and I’m very proud of it.”
All proceeds from the book’s sales benefit Key To Change, a Milwaukee nonprofit dedicated to supporting unhoused folks.
DJ Shawna also produces uplifting pop music and has two singles out now on streaming platforms, “I Won’t Give Up” featuring Tanner Howe and “Heart of a Fighter” featuring Destiny Leigh. “I have hopes that “Heart Of A Fighter” is going to be the women’s basketball national championship anthem,” Shawna asserts. “I wrote it for that purpose. Destiny Leigh took it to another level with her voice; she is going to be a superstar and I stand by that.”
DJ Shawna is collaborating with Metro Market on a cooking video series that debuts in the coming months. “This summer is going to be fun,” she contends. “I hope to be on some rooftops throwing some fun parties.”
On the biggest thing she has learned throughout her career, Shawna discloses, “Comparison is the thief of joy; I do a lot of work online and have to check myself about that on a regular basis. I get genuinely happy for other people and want everyone to win, yet the comparison part always makes me think I need to be doing things a certain way and I get impostor syndrome pretty bad. But I know that I have trust and faith in myself. I love what I do; I just want to always be better. You have to keep working hard and keep learning, and you have to have an open heart, open mind and open ears. If you do all those things, it’s going to be okay.”
Visit DJ Shawna’s website at djshawna.com and follow her on Instagram @djshawna. For Dare To Be, visit daretobeclothing.com.
