Inner Circle: Sahar Habibi

I had the pleasure of getting to chop it up with Soulection's own, Sahar Habibi, and we had a blast! We had been in touch before she landed in Boston, and right off the bat she was super engaged and responsive.

We agreed to grab something to eat before her set, but since it was raining we had to shoot indoors. When she arrived to Middlesex, she came in dressed in a comfy fit, appetite on 100 - my kinda gal.

We settled on checking out Little Donkey, which was a quick walk down the street, and started talking about how she got her start, transferring colleges, and what it's like to live in the cold and lust for warmer weather.

She ordered the jerk wings, I got the Impossible Burger, and we both toasted to a fun night ahead.

How did you land your current position with Soulection?

I met the soulection crew at SXSW 2015, just show hopping by myself. By the time Joe kay came to Chicago on tour, we already connected and had mutual friends and he saw what I was doing in the music scene there. I expressed to him my interest in working with soulection and emailed him my cover letter / resume. Months later soulection was invited to be on beats 1/apple music, and the work load with that got heavy on Joe and he reached out to me months later. that's the beginning of it all and after that has just been consistent growth with them.

Is this what you pictured when you graduated?

It's honestly better than what I pictured.

You mentioned you always had a strong tie to music, did you always picture yourself as a DJ?

I've always had an interest in djing / learning how to dj. I never thought that it would actually happen like this and take me to new cities. Of course, it was always the goal and mission. but to be able to do it like this is a whole other blessing.

What keeps you in Chicago?

The tight community here. I can't really put into words what keeps me staying in Chicago, but something about it's atmosphere keeps me sucked in.

Do your parents approve of your lifestyle/career?

100%. they're my biggest supporters. They're always coming up with new things / suggestions of what I should do next, or how I can take things further. my dad actually bought me a dj controller one year for Christmas (before I started learning). He's always tearing off pages in magazines of new electronics that he thinks I should try out.

Being one of the few women behind the scenes at Soulection, how do you make sure your voice is heard?

Honestly, the members of soulection are very conscious and aware of equality. If anything, they respectfully ask for my opinion on things/topics. I don't have to do much to make sure my voice is heard. It's a group effort here, if you want to say something or have a new idea about something - we're all listening.