Nicole Moudaber: “Suffered from stage fright”

Nicole Moudabe and Marceline Compound 2014
In 2014, I interviewed techno queen Nicole Moudaber several times. One of these interviews, of course, was about her first gig.

This post is also available in: Nederlands (Dutch)

In 2014, I interviewed techno queen Nicole Moudaber several times. One of these interviews, of course, was about her first gig. To put it briefly: "I was thrown in the deep end."

“In 1999, I played for a large audience for the first time. I was immediately thrown in at The Ministry of Sound in London.”

Nicole moudaber and Carl Cox 2011 - Nicole Moudaber: "Suffered from stage fright"

Smaller spaces

“Fortunately, I didn’t have to play in the main hall right away. A friend of mine was a promoter at the Ministry. He gave me a chance to perform a set in one of the smaller spaces.”

"I did it!"

“I was extremely nervous, but of course, I did it! Naturally, I couldn’t play the music that is in my repertoire now. It was all quite commercial. But it was a great exercise to stand in front of so many people, truly incredible!”

nicole moudaber 2019 1024x648 - Nicole Moudaber: "Suffered from stage fright"

Very seriously

“At first, I was quite tense and suffered from stage fright. I took this gig very seriously. I simply wanted to do it right away! That’s why I definitely thought about the tracks I wanted to play beforehand. I was well-prepared.”

“In the end, it was a resounding success. Hordes of friends had come to support me, and it was downright amazing. This felt so good; I definitely wanted to continue with this!”

Nicole Moudaber behind the decks 2011 - Nicole Moudaber: "Suffered from stage fright"

This interview with Nicole Moudaber is originally published in DJMag The Netherlands in April 2014.

Who is Nicole Moudaber?

Raised in Nigeria of Lebanese descent, she moved to London to build a career that has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Moving from event promotion to DJing and production, she immersed herself in the global club scene, traveling from Brazil to Sydney, Montreal to Dubai, and everywhere in between. At the core of her success is the pain of loss, the death of her father in 2012, a moment that sent her spiraling as her career was on the rise. Despite her efforts to suppress those emotions, Nicole Moudaber eventually faced them, beginning a turbulent pathway to success with the understanding that progress often comes with suffering.

Nicole Moudaber invests her heart and soul into all aspects of her life’s work. Never one to stand still, she constantly seeks to advance and evolve, striving to better herself and grow as an artist and a human being. This journey has led to an ever-growing list of achievements. Red Bull has profiled her passion for motorsports, revealing her double life as a Professional Race Car Driver—a high-octane hobby that encapsulates Nicole Moudaber’s fearless nature and unerring passion for living life in the fast lane. She compares the concentration needed on the racetrack with the singular focus required for DJing, acknowledging that the two passions feed into one another.

The relentless fire in her belly has catapulted Nicole Moudaber into the upper echelons of the electronic music world, where she occupies her own space as the head of the Mood empire. The global reach of her brand has led to Nicole Moudaber curating MoodZONE festival stages at the world’s biggest events: Electric Daisy Carnival (New York, Las Vegas & Orlando), California’s Escape, and BPM Festival (Mexico & Portugal), joined by friends such as Carl Cox, Sasha, Danny Tenaglia, Chris Liebing, Paco Osuna, Pan-Pot, and Dubfire.

Above all else is Nicole Moudaber’s fighting spirit and the desire to use her status to highlight injustice. Her most recent campaign focuses on supporting victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). She launched the charity ELEVEN on the International Day of the Girl Child in October 2018. The charity aims to raise funds for Magool, an organization that provides support to victims and funds volunteers to help prevent the brutal and barbaric practice. Nicole Moudaber works with the Lower East Side Girls Club in New York, where she has not only mentored young women, giving them the skills and confidence they need to become music producers in their own right but also furnished them with equipment. She has also dedicated her time to Solving Kids Cancer, an enterprise that has utilized its research to work on cures for rare forms of cancer. On top of that, Nicole Moudaber is an ambassador for the Association For Electronic Music (AFEM), using her position to campaign for positive change in the electronic music industry.

More Nicole Moudaber?

Also check my feature interview with Nicole Moudaber! 

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