ORLANDO, Fla. – What started as a hobby of listening to and mixing music in his apartment became more than just a career for Florida native Danny Garcia.
In 2009, at the age of 19, Garcia and his friends were throwing big house parties on Orlando’s east side by the University of Central Florida.
“A bartender had come to one of our parties, and he was like, ‘Man, you have a lot of people here. If you bring all these people from this house party to a club, you have the opportunity to make a lot of money,’” Garcia said.
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The young deejay listened to his friend and got a gig in downtown Orlando. Garcia said he really started taking deejaying seriously when he got a job at the Dragon Room.
“A lot of the veteran DJs, they kind of taught me the ways and taught me how to really mix and perfect my craft,” Garcia said.
A few years later DJ Danny Garcia was working four to six nights a week in Orlando’s nightclub scene. It wasn’t a full-time job, so to make ends meet Garcia took a part-time job at a liquor store.
“I knew if I wanted to do a full-time gig, I would have to get into the private event world or wedding world,” Garcia said.
In 2016 he started to deejay weddings. It was a big change from the club scene, but Garcia loved it.
“I was able to blend the mixing I did in the club, but with the professionalism a wedding deejay had,” Garcia said.
After working several weddings Garica was finally able to become a full-time deejay.
Now, Garcia averages two to three weddings a week. He said during November’s wedding season, he can do as many as four to five weddings a week. Garcia didn’t stop the club scene completely. He still does a few nights to keep up to date with music.
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Garcia also worked part-time at that liquor store for ten years and really had a passion for it. That experience ultimately opened up yet another door of opportunity.
“So about six years ago we started the project,” said Garica holding a bottle of vodka proudly. “Mitch Patel is the founder of P1 Vodka, the P comes from his last name and the number one comes from his Indian culture. See, when you give somebody something of monetary value they give $21, $51, $101, that extra one is to wish a prosperous future.”
Patel led the P1 team consisting of Garcia, Luis Medina, Chris Rodriguez, and Eric Medina. The non-GMO organic corn-based vodka is not only gluten-free but is made with water brought in from the Appalachian Mountains. You can read more about the ingredients and process in Patel’s interview with News 6 by clicking here.
“Our bottle is even black and gold because most of us went to UCF. I didn’t. But the rest of the guys did and they wanted to pay homage to the university,” Garcia said.
When asked what advice he would give anyone wanting to start their own business, Garcia said following your passion is the way to go.
“Being able to take both of my passions and bring it kind of together, it’s been a blessing. I’m grateful every day”.