Meet Al Okyne of Okyne Medialab in Goose Island

Today we’d like to introduce you to Al Okyne.

Al, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago (Schaumburg) in the 90’s, the DJ scene was evolving. I quickly started learning my craft as a “bedroom DJ” and threw many house parties where I was able to hone and display my skills. I quickly fell in love. My DJ-ing hobby took me to bars and clubs throughout the Chicagoland area. But it was strictly a hobby until 2004 when I left my systems analyst job at Hewitt Associates to take it full time.

While DJ-ing on the side, I was never interested in DJ-ing weddings. That was lame for us “club dj”. But I decided to do a friend’s wedding and actually had a great time! But I did it the way I thought it should be done…without all the cheesiness. That’s when I decided to start Okyne Medialab. I recruited a couple fellow DJ’s and we started DJ-ing weddings and private events.

Twelve years later, we’re still at it. And loving every bit of it. I personally love the managing of the business though I still DJ a bit from time to time. I have gathered the best team of DJ’s who truly have a passion for rocking weddings and our office staff is second to none. We simply love what we do and are grateful to be able to do this for a living!

Great, 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?
Although there have been some challenges, in retrospect, when I look at it from starting this company and not knowing anything about business, it’s been relatively smooth. Some of the obstacles we’ve faced though were about finding and retaining quality office personnel.

Please tell us about Okyne Medialab.
Okyne Medialab has established itself as the “non-cheesy” DJ for the Chicagoland area. We take pride that all of our DJ’s have club backgrounds and bring that uniqueness to your event. We specialize in weddings primarily but do a number of private and corporate events each year.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I have two that come to mind. One is that my mother was a bit obsessed with garage sales and she’d often come home with a new turntable, speaker or mixer for me to play with and add to my “studio”. My other memory was going to Gramophone Records to buy some new vinyl before a big gig. We spent hours in record stores.

Pricing:

• The Elite Wedding DJ Package (starting at) $1500

Contact Info:

• Address: Okyne Medialab, Inc.
  1229 N. North Branch St.
  Suite 303
  Chicago, IL 60642
• Website: www.okynemedialab.com
• Phone: (773) 688-4577
• Email: info@okynemedialab.com
• Instagram: @okynemedialab
• Facebook: @Okynemedialabinc
• Twitter: @OkyneMedialab
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/okyne-medialab-chicago-3
• Other: weddingwire.com/reviews/okyne-medialab-inc-chicago/d52c61e7d3a6f933.html

Image Credit:
www.carascophoto.com