During the work week, Paulina Andujo is an orthopedic nurse who cares for patients before and after knee or hip replacement, but on her days off, she becomes a professional DJ who sets the scene and mood with her music selection. rhythm to parties
“My job as a nurse fascinates me, but it can be stressful at times, whereas being a DJ takes the stress out of me.”
Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, Paulina immigrated to the United States where she studied to be a nurse at the Texas Woman’s University in Dallas.
“At a conference I met the manager of a hospital and I expressed my desire to come to Los Angeles to work as a nurse, since I felt that I needed a change. She asked me to send her my summarizes (Curriculum vitae). I sent it to them, they accepted me and I came to Los Angeles. I’ve been here for 7 and a half years now.”
Your job as an orthopedic nurse is to talk to patients who are going to have a knee or hip replacement.
“I call them a week before. I explain what they should expect. One day after surgery, I go to meet them in person, and I call them again three days later.”
currently is joint surgery clinical manager for the Hospital Joint Replacement Program Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of the Angels.
Paulina loves her job as a nurse, but reveals that since she was a child she has felt a great passion for music.
“I always wanted to be a DJ, but I didn’t know where to start. When I came to Los Angeles, I found out that there is a DJ school in the city of Glendale, the Beat Junkie Institute of Sound and I signed up.”
Nearly two years later, she graduated as a DJ and has now been putting music to parties for three years in her spare time as an orthopedic nurse.
At school, Paulina says she learned to mix pre-recorded music, count where the song comes in, and balance time and duration.
“The selection of music already depends on our taste and the type of audience we are going to have. Sometimes, those who hire us ask us in advance for what they want and you have to prepare yourself”.
And he does not hide that he has loved being a DJ in his spare time, usually on weekends when he is not working at the hospital.
“DJing is like meditation and therapy. It allows me to focus, relax and not think about everything else. It brings out my creative side and connects me with people.”
He narrates that it was in the same hospital where he began to promote himself as a DJ, and he began to get hits.
“For example, they hired me for the Christmas party.”
Talk that the rates charged by DJs depend on the hours they play. The lowest they charge is between $100 and $150 an hour, but famous DJs ask thousands of dollars an hour.
Among the famous DJs, he explains that there are those who already have managers and invest a lot of work in promoting themselves.
“For now I have worked as a DJ more for fun than to make money; And I’m really getting back what I invested in the equipment, which was like $5,000.”
Paulina is a nurse who speaks joy and enthusiasm; and she laughs every moment.
“During the pandemic, being a DJ was a huge relief. At that time, the work in the hospital was very heavy. I came home to listen to music; and I would connect to play with my DJ friends over Zoom. We supported each other.”
Currently, she says her boyfriend accompanies her to her job as a DJ.
“He helps me with the equipment, and he also makes observations, like when he tells me to turn the music down or up more.”
One of the most important moments of being a DJ is the preparation prior to the celebration that they are going to set.
“It depends on the party, but I like to select music that can be danced to. I grew up dancing cumbias and I always integrate them into my selection, as well as Mexican music. Selena’s songs are never lacking, and now everyone wants to hear Bad Bunny (a Puerto Rican rapper), but I also include Vicente Fernández, Ramón Ayala and banda music.”
He comments that he recently played at a party for a group of Hispanic nurses.
“It was a Caribbean event, and they asked me for merengue and salsa, but I also put my cumbias on them.”
Paulina is confident that she is not the only nurse who is also a DJ at Cedars-Sinai Hospital.
“We are like five nurses who at the same time work as a DJ. We are of all races; and some like me, we are Latinas”.
Paulina is also a volunteer with OperaciónWalk.org, a medical humanitarian organization that travels to different countries to provide free knee and hip replacements to low-income people. She has participated in at least 7 trips around the world.
“I have been in Nicaragua, in Cuba and in many other countries. And providing these surgeries to people who otherwise wouldn’t have the resources to do them is really fulfilling.”
If you want to meet and hire Paulina, find her on Instagram as: PauPauThe_