Meet Christina Vessa | CEO & Co-Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christina Vessa and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christina, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor behind the success of Dubstep FBI is consistency. This is demonstrated in several ways:

1) I am a big believer in doing one little thing every day that makes you a better person than who you were yesterday. This applies to businesses too; it’s the 1 percent rule (get 1 percent better every day). I stay consistent always by reaching out to artists who are pushing boundaries, by making time to teach my staff ways of improving, and by throwing big asks into the world. By doing one little thing every day that makes my business better off, we gradually put feathers in our caps, grow our team together and learn new things that contribute to the success of Dubstep FBI.

2) Staying consistent also means understanding that success doesn’t come overnight. One of my favorite quotes is, “Most overnight successes take three years.” Consistency has shown us that even on days or weeks where our social media posts don’t get engagement or we get three “no’s” in a row, we still show up the next day and do one little thing to move forward. This is apparent in our business, as we only started in January 2020. However, every single day since then, this business has been top of mind. Yeah, we had several streams with less than 10 viewers and several mixes with less than 500 plays, but we kept showing up the next day discovering new talent to work with.

Overall, the point is to do one little thing that makes you better off than the day before. This philosophy adds up over long periods of time, and even though success doesn’t come overnight, it seemingly appears after you’ve consistently shown up for days, weeks and years.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve always been a designer — whether it be on the Lakewood High School yearbook team, as a breaking news reporter for Colorado State University’s student paper, The Collegian, or now as brand manager for Colorado School of Mines. I credit the majority of my success to the extracurricular activities I participated in at CSU. From starting off as the equipment room manager in the Journalism Department to working as a marketing coordinator for the CSU Libraries to managing the winning campaign for student body president, these college experiences helped define me.

The biggest challenge was not over-working myself. I did this by always prioritizing hanging out with friends, treating myself to nice things and by working out constantly to keep my mind straight. Being in a creative field, I sometimes find therapy and satisfaction in the majority of my work, but it’s still important to put my mental and physical health first.

Always invest in yourself first. This is the biggest piece of advice I have. You are the only person who will show up day and night to reach those goals, so make sure that you’re staying healthy and strong along the way. I invest in myself in several ways – starting two businesses and making money that’s solely my own (and not from an employer), investing in cryptocurrencies and stocks, working out and hiking, traveling and eating and drinking good food. Life has so much to offer and as a creative, I find inspiration in these things that reenergize me.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When my best friends come to town, I have a jam-packed itinerary. For our days in town, we swing by The Source rooftop for drinks, giving them a perfect view of the Denver skyline and mountains. Then, we rent scooters and tear up RiNo & the Ballpark district for a few hours, maybe swinging by Barcelona for tapas. Then, I’d drive them up to Red Rocks for the sunset and take a walk on the Red Rocks trail (2-3 mile loop). For those who have never been to Colorado, I must take them through Golden and talk about the rich history that my employer, Colorado School of Mines, has with the city.

An inevitable trip to the mountains happens within a few days — dream destination to take them is Telluride and Ouray. We must camp at the Blue Lakes Ridgway trailhead then make it up to the first lake for sunrise and hike up to the top of Mt Sneffels. After that, we hit downtown Telluride for some beers. The next day, we will hike the Via Ferrata and visit the falls.

Next up is one of my favorite mountain destinations, South Park. My aunt Lisa McVicker (who is also a professor at MSU Denver and a water lawyer) has a passive solar house up there. We’d spend a day leaf peeping on her property then hit Mt. Princeton Hot Springs near Buena Vista at the end of the trip.

Other honorable mentions are hikes that include Sky Pond, Lake Isabelle and Blue Lakes in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Snowmass Lake gets a special shoutout in the Maroon Bells Wilderness.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I am a huge believer that the rising tide lifts all boats! This is SO true in the success of Dubstep FBI.

I want to give a massive shoutout to my business partner Yesenia Vizcaya — this woman pushed me to launch the business, even when I was scared as one of the only women in the scene. I kept talking about this idea that I had, and she kept saying, “Why not?” Not only was she encouraging, but she offered to immediately help me run the socials, which took a massive weight off my shoulders. She’s constantly helping me stay sane and not overthink everything, and she pushes me to be the best version of myself.

I also want to give a shoutout to our business advisor, Joseph Rath. This man believed in us when we were first starting off, so much so that he offered to invest so we could pursue a rebrand and launch our first merchandise line. His drive is contagious and I will always be grateful for the business acumen he brings to our Friday night work sessions.

One of my biggest shoutouts goes to Matthew Hood, AKA High Zombie — he’s my boyfriend and an EDM producer and audio engineer. Dubstep FBI had just launched when we first met and he kept asking me what I wanted to do with it, pushing me to think next-level about goals. We went from working with bedroom DJs to legitimate producers because he bends over backwards to connect us with his colleagues in the industry. Not only this, but he has produced scores for major movies and TV, and his audio engineering skills helped me create the VOX for our Riot Control Radio mix series.

Dubstep FBI is successful because of the dedication put into by these individuals. I am so grateful to have these one-of-a-kind people who believed in me so much that they offered to work for me, advise me and grow my network.

Website: dubstepfbi.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dubstepfbi/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dubstepfbi

Facebook: https://facebook.com/dubstepfbi

Other: Check out our podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa2mVkBmcF-CAa9e6Awf5uQ Check out our Melodic Investigations and Slappers playlists on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7tXEmSLZ3UqjweOu68bhga?si=_ch803ozRPGABqRx3hu6Pw&nd=1

Image Credits
Vanwinkle Photography