Today’s guest, Michaelangelo L’acqua is one that I find truly fascinating as he does something that is very rare and unheard of, but also completely inspiring. He is known as a music lifestyle curator for the W hotels. He gets to travel around the world to their hotels and curate the musical experience for their guests -pretty awesome. He’s actually been to one of my dream places, the W hotel in the maldive Islands, which I’m dying to see. He also DJ’s huge parties around the world, which he considers just a “hobby”, but in the grand scheme he just loves curating musical experiences for people.
Michaelangelo has also created an amazing mentorship program for DJ’s that we get to hear about and we also dive into how big personal branding is for DJ’s and well anyone in the creative field. I’ve always thought that if I weren’t a photographer, I’d be a DJ, but after talking to him, I realize how much photography is something that is much more natural to me. Especially as he talks about the vast musical knowledge that a real DJ should have to take their career to the highest level.
We also get to talk about the process of curation and how in this day in age it’s necessary to stand out above the digital noise.
We met at Summit Series a couple years ago, and Michaelangelo has always inspired me in what he does, and it’s a privilege to get to dive into it with him. So lets jump in!
“Once you define what you’ve become, you defy the infinite possibilities of what you could be.”
[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/michaelangelo-lacqua-returning” title=”Michaelangelo L’Acqua – What it Takes to Master Your Craft” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/07_Michaelangelo_NIONradio_02-1.jpg” color=”de4b9b” ]
Some things we learn in this podcast:
- Learn about the best profession in the world: musical lifestyle curator
- How he got his start in high fashion
- The pitch that led him to success as the Ambassador for W Hotels
- Sonic Branding vs. DJing – How does one choose?
- The inexplicable value of traveling the world as personal development
- The quest for mastery and how committed Michaelangelo is to it
- The skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur
- All about the mindset of professional DJs
- Why egos have no place in the music industry
- Working with Amfar to make AIDs a disease of the past
- How to Acknowledge the people in our life
- Skills to stand out from the pack
Links Mentioned in this Episode:
Learn more about abolishing Aids: Amfar
Connect with Michelangelo Instagram | Twitter | Website | Soundcloud
LET'S CONSPIRE & CREATE
CULTIVATING YOUR VISUAL UNIQUENESS AND STREAMLINING YOUR BRAND'S EVOLUTION
Today’s guest, Michaelangelo L’acqua is one that I find truly fascinating as he does something that is very rare and unheard of, but also completely inspiring. He is known as a music lifestyle curator for the W hotels. He gets to travel around the world to their hotels and curate the musical experience for their guests -pretty awesome. He’s actually been to one of my dream places, the W hotel in the maldive Islands, which I’m dying to see. He also DJ’s huge parties around the world, which he considers just a “hobby”, but in the grand scheme he just loves curating musical experiences for people.
Michaelangelo has also created an amazing mentorship program for DJ’s that we get to hear about and we also dive into how big personal branding is for DJ’s and well anyone in the creative field. I’ve always thought that if I weren’t a photographer, I’d be a DJ, but after talking to him, I realize how much photography is something that is much more natural to me. Especially as he talks about the vast musical knowledge that a real DJ should have to take their career to the highest level.
We also get to talk about the process of curation and how in this day in age it’s necessary to stand out above the digital noise.
We met at Summit Series a couple years ago, and Michaelangelo has always inspired me in what he does, and it’s a privilege to get to dive into it with him. So lets jump in!
“Once you define what you’ve become, you defy the infinite possibilities of what you could be.”
[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/michaelangelo-lacqua-returning” title=”Michaelangelo L’Acqua – What it Takes to Master Your Craft” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/07_Michaelangelo_NIONradio_02-1.jpg” color=”de4b9b” ]
Some things we learn in this podcast:
- Learn about the best profession in the world: musical lifestyle curator
- How he got his start in high fashion
- The pitch that led him to success as the Ambassador for W Hotels
- Sonic Branding vs. DJing – How does one choose?
- The inexplicable value of traveling the world as personal development
- The quest for mastery and how committed Michaelangelo is to it
- The skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur
- All about the mindset of professional DJs
- Why egos have no place in the music industry
- Working with Amfar to make AIDs a disease of the past
- How to Acknowledge the people in our life
- Skills to stand out from the pack
Links Mentioned in this Episode:
Learn more about abolishing Aids: Amfar
Connect with Michelangelo Instagram | Twitter | Website | Soundcloud
2/19/14
07: Michaelangelo L’Acqua – What it Takes to Master Your Craft
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masterfully aligning perception and reality through personal branding
masterfully aligning perception and reality through personal branding
Today’s guest, Michaelangelo L’acqua is one that I find truly fascinating as he does something that is very rare and unheard of, but also completely inspiring. He is known as a music lifestyle curator for the W hotels. He gets to travel around the world to their hotels and curate the musical experience for their guests -pretty awesome. He’s actually been to one of my dream places, the W hotel in the maldive Islands, which I’m dying to see. He also DJ’s huge parties around the world, which he considers just a “hobby”, but in the grand scheme he just loves curating musical experiences for people.
Michaelangelo has also created an amazing mentorship program for DJ’s that we get to hear about and we also dive into how big personal branding is for DJ’s and well anyone in the creative field. I’ve always thought that if I weren’t a photographer, I’d be a DJ, but after talking to him, I realize how much photography is something that is much more natural to me. Especially as he talks about the vast musical knowledge that a real DJ should have to take their career to the highest level.
We also get to talk about the process of curation and how in this day in age it’s necessary to stand out above the digital noise.
We met at Summit Series a couple years ago, and Michaelangelo has always inspired me in what he does, and it’s a privilege to get to dive into it with him. So lets jump in!
“Once you define what you’ve become, you defy the infinite possibilities of what you could be.”
[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/michaelangelo-lacqua-returning” title=”Michaelangelo L’Acqua – What it Takes to Master Your Craft” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/07_Michaelangelo_NIONradio_02-1.jpg” color=”de4b9b” ]
Some things we learn in this podcast:
- Learn about the best profession in the world: musical lifestyle curator
- How he got his start in high fashion
- The pitch that led him to success as the Ambassador for W Hotels
- Sonic Branding vs. DJing – How does one choose?
- The inexplicable value of traveling the world as personal development
- The quest for mastery and how committed Michaelangelo is to it
- The skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur
- All about the mindset of professional DJs
- Why egos have no place in the music industry
- Working with Amfar to make AIDs a disease of the past
- How to Acknowledge the people in our life
- Skills to stand out from the pack
Links Mentioned in this Episode:
Learn more about abolishing Aids: Amfar
Connect with Michelangelo Instagram | Twitter | Website | Soundcloud
2/19/14
07: Michaelangelo L’Acqua – What it Takes to Master Your Craft
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If your message keeps shifting, your brand feels inconsistent, or your presence doesn’t match your capability yet. This is where you build the foundation before you scale.
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For founders, creatives, and leaders who want a trusted long-term partner. This isn’t coaching or traditional consulting.
It’s an ongoing creative partnership focused on bringing your personal brand identity to life.
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All shaped as a direct extension of who you are. The work also includes a bespoke process of identifying and aligning the right experts when needed, so nothing gets built out of sync with your core.
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The kung fu school had rules: locked-in weekdays, dawn starts, push-ups for lateness. A month inside taught me that constraints you choose are what make depth possible.
A daily creative practice is making one real thing every day, however small, to stay in a proactive state. A working definition, and how to build one that lasts.
AI describes your brand by averaging your public record. How to codify one identity, repeat it everywhere, and get the machines to echo you back accurately.
I’ve photographed Justin Bieber several times and seen fame up close. His stripped-down Coachella set showed the thing I keep relearning about creative work: production amplifies, and only artistry carries.
You recover from creative burnout by treating it as a nervous system state: build real down-cycles, read your own signals, and return to the work you love.
A magnetic personal brand comes from coherence and one clear through-line. Here is how entrepreneurs build one, in order, and the trap that keeps most brands scattered.
I spent a month training kung fu in Wudang at 47, the oldest and slowest learner in the room. What being a beginner again in midlife taught me about pace, comparison, and starting anyway.
You develop taste through thousands of reps of looking closely and deciding what works. A photographer’s honest answer on how taste gets built.
You make a personal brand more coherent by naming the identity underneath it, distilling a one or two word through-line, and bringing the four layers into agreement. The full path, in order.
You cannot pour from an empty well. Travel is how I refill mine. Here is why new places are creative input rather than a break from the work, and why output without input runs dry.
There is a difference between making something and performing the act of making it. Here is what I learned about the creative act, content, and why the resistance is the whole game.
AI can generate endless brand content, but it cannot construct the identity underneath it. Here is the real line between what AI can do for your brand and what only you can.
Burnout is less a willpower problem than a nervous system running with no recovery. Here is what I learned about creative recovery from social media burnout and a reset in Costa Rica.
About the Blogger
I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here.
I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here.
