Awesome People We Met at Beyond Wonderland SoCal 2019

One of our favorite parts about Beyond Wonderland SoCal is the time of year it takes place. With the festival landing in March, it’s unofficially considered our kickoff for the fest season, so it seems everyone is itching to dive into the dancefloor and make the biggest splash. This past weekend, we ran into countless Headliners who noticeably put some extra thought and care into the threads they sported for our start-of-season smash. These are the Awesome People from Beyond Wonderland SoCal 2019.

Name: Babak
Age: 19
Hometown: Irvine, CA
Occupation: College student
Number of Beyond Wonderlands: First

What does your outfit say about you?
I’m not afraid to get a little cold! And I love cats. That shoot lasers. In space.

What was it about the dance music scene that you fell in love with?
Anyone can be a part of the scene; it doesn’t matter your background, age, or orientation.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at a music festival?
I’m really into health and fitness. A lot of people don’t think that goes hand in hand with raving, but I think it does.

Name: Jake and Toshah
Age: 25 (Jake), 24 (Toshah)
Hometown: Phoenix, AZ (both)
Occupation: Personal trainer (Jake); aesthetician (Toshah)
Number of Beyond Wonderlands: First (Jake); 4 (Tosha)

What does your outfit say about you?
Yee-haw!

What was it about the dance music scene that you fell in love with?
Toshah: The community. Everyone is so welcoming and nonjudgmental. I’ve met so many people from across the country.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at a music festival?
We go to the gym a lot, and we both compete in bodybuilding.

Name: Amy
Age: 28
Hometown: Las Vegas, NV
Occupation: Business owner
Number of Beyond Wonderlands: First

What does your outfit say about you?
A fairy mermaid. My goal was: “Is it trippy and weird? All right, go for it!”

What was it about the dance music scene that you fell in love with?
The energy. Everyone’s energy is amazing. Everyone’s happy, they’re excited to be here, and they love the music.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at a music festival?
Arts, crafts, and making costumes!

Name: Autumn, Noelle J, and Emily
Age: 22 (Autumn)
Hometown: San Diego, CA
Occupation: Waitress (Autumn), cashier (Noelle), business owner (Emily)
Number of Beyond Wonderlands: First (All)

What does your outfit say about you?
Emily: This is my first rave ever, so my outfit is a mixture of other stuff, and this all mixed together. It’s more just like free flowing, chill.

What was it about the dance music scene that you fell in love with?
Autumn: Just the community behind it. You come to these festivals, and there’s no anxiety; it’s home—ever since my first one.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at a music festival?
We love just chillin at the beach, taking runs, and longboarding there—the classic California life.

Name: Ashley, Tim, Kwan
Age: 29 (Ashley); 34 (Tim); 28 (Kwan)
Hometown: San Jose
Occupation: Marketing operations (Ashley); software engineer (Tim); legal operations (Kwan)

What does your outfit say about you?
Kwan: Let’s get weird!

What was it about the dance music scene that you fell in love with?
Ashley: I started a really long time ago, when I was in martial arts. I heard all the older students listening to old-school stuff, like Tiësto and everything. A few years later, I found out it was actually EDM, so I started listening to it and attending festivals and everything from Insomniac. I’ve just been loving it ever since.

Tim: I think it started with the Matrix soundtrack. When that movie came out, I just lost my mind; it was great. And then first year at EDC, I was like: All right, this is it.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at a music festival?
Ashley: Prep for the festivals! Make costumes and kandi and everything.

Tim: I love snowboarding! This time of the year, it’s always a competition between if I go snowboarding or raving over the weekend.

Kwan: Cooking and eating!

Name: Francis, Avery
Age: 22 (Francis); 23 (Avery)
Hometown: Lancaster, CA (Francis); San Fernando Valley, CA (Avery)
Occupation: Surgical technologist (Both)

What does your outfit say about you?
Francics: It says I love pink! I’m a girly girl, and I like to express myself through my outfit. I like to have fun; I like to look cute.

What was it about the dance music scene that you fell in love with?
Francis: Oh my gosh! The environment! The people and the music just move through you. It moves you, you know? it makes you feel good, like you’re in a good space and good head and a good place. I love it!

Avery: The vibe! How it makes you feel all pumped up. Even when you’re tired, just listen to EDM—some Deorro, some Steve Aoki—let’s bump it up, bump it!

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at a music festival?
Francis: Scrubbing and surgery! I love the OR; surgery is my life.

Avery: Sleep and eat, and sleep and rave and eat!

Name: Maxine and Alexa
Age: 25 (Maxine); 21 (Alexa)
Hometown: Irvine, Garden Grove (Alexa)
Occupation: Swim coach (Maxine); banker (Alexa)
Number of Beyond Wonderlands: First

What does your outfit say about you?
Alexa: I’m artsy, and I love having fun!

What was it about the dance music scene that you fell in love with?
Maxine: I love all the variation in the music, but I think the culture that surrounds it is really special. The culture is what keeps me going.

Alexa: The beat! I love being able to dance to music, and this has always been my favorite. Ever since I started out with Benny Benassi “Satisfaction,” I’ve been hooked.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at a music festival?
Maxine: I love animals; I love my dog in particular. So, I’m always at the dog park or volunteering there.

Name: Courey
Age: 24
Hometown: San Antonio, TX
Occupation: Visual merchandiser
Number of Beyond Wonderlands: First

What does your outfit say about you?
I am free.

What was it about the dance music scene that you fell in love with?
The way that you can express yourself and not have people judge you.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at a music festival?
Basically, just listen to music.

Name: Zen
Age: 25
Hometown: San Diego, CA
Occupation: Cocktail server at a casino
Number of Beyond Wonderlands: First

What does your outfit say about you?
I would definitely say it shows my creative side. I’m very artsy, so it took a lot of time and dedication and very close attention.

What was it about the dance music scene that you fell in love with?
My mom used to play trance music, so I grew up listening to trance to go to sleep and during the day. It kind of just morphed into all of the genres.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at a music festival?
I am really into cars, so I drive my car pretty fast. I’m into the whole car scene.

Name: Danielle, aka Cookie
Age: 28
Hometown: Anaheim, CA
Occupation: Server at a bar and aspiring voice actor for cartoons
Number of Beyond Wonderlands: Three

What does your outfit say about you?
I like to have fun, let loose, be free, and I don’t worry about what anyone else thinks, because this is the one safe place where you can actually be yourself.

What was it about the dance music scene that you fell in love with?
Raving kind of saved my life. Back in 2009, I went through a really rough breakup and was in a really depressive state. Somebody randomly took me to a rave, and I fell in love. I found people who accepted me for who I really am. It’s where I can come and have a family reunion and see people I’ve known forever but only get to see when they are here.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at a music festival?
I am a video gamer; I love my video games, for sure. Right now, I’ve been playing Smite and Kingdom Hearts 3.

Name: Lauren and David
Age: 29 (Lauren); 28 (David)
Hometown: Bakersfield, CA (Both)
Occupation: High school counselor (Lauren); AT&T employee (David)
Number of Beyonds: Three

What does your outfit say about you?
Lauren: It represents my personality, because I like being creative. I try to put that into my outfits.

David: I think it shows that I am dating a super creative person. She made everything from scratch.

What was it about the dance music scene that you fell in love with?
Lauren: I love how free it is and the fact that it unites so many different people.

David: The culture as a whole. It’s hard to find another place where everyone feels at home all the time.

Lauren: It’s all about love.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at a music festival?
Lauren: Exercising, riding my bike, longboarding, and going to the gym.

David: Brazilian jiu-jitsu, going to the gym, and going outside.

Name: Kim
Age: 29
Hometown: Orange County, CA
Occupation: Merchandise planning for a fashion company
Number of Beyond Wonderlands: First

What does your outfit say about you?
I’m ridiculous and over the top.

What was it about the dance music scene that you fell in love with?
The first thing was costumes, obviously. I’ve always been into costume things, and my boyfriend has always been into dance music. So, I had some friends take me to EDC last year for my first rave, and I just fell in love with it.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at a music festival?
Probably backpacking and camping, so the complete opposite. But when raves and camping cross together, it’s awesome.

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