Today we’d like to introduce you to Destiny Carter.
Hi Destiny, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
My creative journey started at home. I feel incredibly lucky that my family encouraged creativity and nurtured my creative spirit from a young age, whether, through dancing, art, or music, they fostered a place where I could safely express myself through many outlets. I started taking piano lessons at age 7 and that was the start of my musical journey.
Later in grade school, I chose the band as a creative extracurricular. I transitioned from piano to trombone, which quickly became my biggest passion. Being in a band taught me the power of personal progress, but also togetherness. It showed me how to hone a craft but also to remain in harmony and community with others encircling me. I believe deeply in community and that we can uplift one another’s talents through collaboration, and the band was integral in honing that mindset for me.
I studied trombone throughout college majoring in arts administration and trombone performance at the University of Kentucky. Here I learned the day-to-day operations of arts organizations, arts management, and all the sectors that fall under that. There I studied event planning, marketing, risk management, fundraising, and all administration obligations that are needed for arts organizations. I loved my program, I think it created a beautiful foundation for everything I do now.
Outside of my regular classes, most of my time was dedicated to WRFL, UK’s student-run radio station. I was a program director and radio DJ for a show called In the Pocket, which showcased jazz’s progression throughout history and within music today. I think there’s something very intimate about sharing music WRFL gave me the freedom to do that in my way.
Shortly after I graduated from the UK, I went on to get my Master’s in Music Production in Berklee’s master’s program in Valencia, Spain. It was there I dove head-first into music production, technology, recording, beat-making, and more. I took DJ’ing as an elective, and my music background with my love for hip-hop, disco, R&B, soul, and funk, creating boundless sound experiences through DJ’ing. For the most part that brings us up to speed today.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has not been smooth in the slightest, but it has shaped my mindset in many ways. I believe we all have pivotal moments where life changes drastically for us, and for me, it was losing my father. He was an artist, musician, and exceptional craftsman; he was unequivocally the most profound loss I’ve ever experienced. I feel like my whole outlet in life changed after that.
He was big on taking risks and going after what you love with gusto. He was my biggest cheerleader, and after his passing, I don’t think I knew how to process all that was happening. It was the first time I came to terms with life’s fragility, and grief is a tricky thing that I still don’t think I have the words to describe, but it was the most pivotal moment of my life. I think another personal journey I’ve always battled is self-confidence which tends to shock many people when I say that.
I can be extremely hard on myself, and sometimes I have a hard time seeing myself in the same light that is sometimes perceived by others. I have been pushing myself to be more intentional with celebrating my wins and not solely focusing on improving “whatever” for the future. Recognizing that hard work and improvement are wonderful things but true abundance starts with gratitude and acceptance.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a multi-faceted creative and entrepreneur. I’m a musician, radio + live DJ, multi-media artist + collaborator, community organizer, flow artist, and much more. I specialize in bringing people together through music and art. Some of the projects I’m involved in include Nurture the West, which is a wellness initiative based in West Louisville that highlights peace, tranquility, creative wellness services, and resources for our greater community.
I host and curate alongside DJ Bombshell. I’m a collaborator and jewelry maker for Latiendita, a Black and Brown-owned arts and apparel business with my greatest friend and partner Rebecca Martinez. Lastly In the Pocket has now come full circle, as I recently began hosting a show on 91.9 WFPK (Louisville Public Media) called In the Pocket, which is a mix of classic soul, soul, R&B, jazz, & funk (Thursdays from 10-11 PM EST).
In 2020, I created a vision board, which became the inspiration for the event I am most proud of, Peep the Vision. Peep the Vision is a twice-yearly community vision board space where we set intentions for the next six months of our lives. There are breathwork facilitators, tarot, reiki, and various other healers that help attendees envision themselves in the immediate future.
Breaking up my New Year’s resolutions was huge for me, and made them more attainable, and I wanted to share those strategies with others, and forge a space of togetherness to speak them into existence. Bell hooks said that a “beloved community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.”
I believe deeply that the best love we can find can often be with the people we don’t share blood with. I am an advocate for curating community spaces that are diverse and helping find the differences among us that make us unique.
We’d love to hear what you think about risk-taking.
I believe you can’t move through life without taking risks. You can’t expand if you’re constantly in your comfort zone, and sometimes that means pushing through fear and self-doubt. I do consider myself a risk taker, and I think the more you do it the more natural it comes. That doesn’t mean my ego isn’t constantly reminding me that I’m “not safe” from time to time, but it means I push past that voice and take the leap anyways.
This mindset is the nucleus of everything I do now – understanding that feeling of going after what I want even if it scares me, even if I mess up, or don’t know everything there is to know about a topic or subject. The confidence I’ve gained from producing the things I’ve dreamed of – envisioning a creative idea, organizing, strategizing how to make it possible, and eventually bringing it to life – has given me so much confidence.
It’ll only continue to take more risks. I may be all of these things now, but I will continue to change and evolve. I have dreams of creating live art & music installations, writing my cookbook, painting landscapes . . . I am not simply one thing. I am the manifestation of many things. Everything that I do will be a product of me being fearless
Contact Info:
- Website: www.latiendita.love
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djdnasti/
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/djdnasti
Image Credits
Bearykah Shaw – www.bearykahshaw.com, Mesa Pisa – mesapisa.com, and Emmanual Ramos – rebellionagency.com
