Phi is the Executive Director of Building Beats, a nonprofit that empowers youth through digital music and DJ workshops integrating life, leadership and entrepreneurial skills. Building Beats has worked with over 3000 youth enriching their creative confidence and connecting them to opportunities to continue their personal growth and career development. He graduated from NYU with a Bachelors of Science in Neural Science and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. He is also a DJ and music producer and enjoys spending his free time reading books.

Kristen supervises all operations and programs at Building Beats. She has a strong track record in radio and music production, event planning, and creative office and project management, operations and administration in nonprofit, start-up, and agency settings. She brings a wealth of knowledge in the music education space to the table, as well as an intimate understanding of the administrative work and project management required to run an organization like Building Beats. She has been instrumental in identifying and developing systems that help the team with data collection, tracking progress, professional development and project management, to name a few. Prior to working at Building Beats, Kristen worked at Dubspot, a brick-and-mortar DJ and Music Production education company serving individual students of all ages.

She is also a Queens-based Producer + DJ, with a background as a contemporary dancer. Blending the lines between genres, her productions and live sets seamlessly move through house, jungle, hip hop and everything in between. She has performed with notable beat crews such as QSTV, Beat Haus, Pushing Buttons Collective and more. She is an active producer in the Web3 music space for boundary pushing projects such as Songcamp's Chaos & Everwave.

Krithi is a producer and remix artist, blending sounds from the Indian Subcontinent with electronica and pop music. She's also a singer-songwriter, with a focus on Jazz and Carnatic techniques. When she's not cooking up beats in her studio, she works as the Fundraising Manager for Building Beats, and is also NYC Chapter Lead, Chapter Development & Education Specialist for Beats by Girlz.

Jess is an educator, DJ and music producer in Brooklyn by way of NC. They are currently the Program Manager at Building Beats, leading our bbWorkshops, bbLeaders and bbForTeachers programs. Passionate about creating inclusive spaces in the music industry, Jess is deeply committed to mentoring up and coming artists. They have held DJ workshops at festivals, museums and universities worldwide, including through the Next Level US Hip Hop diplomacy program in Peru, UNC-Chapel Hill, Rider University, ARoS Museum, and the University of Groningen. Before joining Building Beats, PlayPlay taught “The Art and Culture of the DJ” course through the University of North Carolina Department of Music. They also served as the former editor-in-chief for the International Association for the Study of Popular Music website (iaspm-us.net).

Musically, Jess (aka PlayPlay) combines their penchant for percussion and bass with nostalgic samples & dreamy synths in both their DJ sets & music production. Their sound is inspired by years of clubbing, crate digging and the sounds they grew up dancing to - 90s club anthems, jungle, breakbeat hardcore, industrial, classic house, techno and old school hip-hop. With releases out on labels such as Sorry Records, Clasico, Worst Behavior and Delusional Records, as well as a slew of self-releases and collaborations, PlayPlay has been slowly and steadily amassing a thumping discography over the years. 

Samuel Lee piloted the first bbLeaders cohort in 2019 and has continued leading and developing the program ever since. In 2009, he became a teaching artist for Thurgood Marshall Academy in Harlem, NY, where he developed a new passion for teaching — and eventually led Samuel to join Building Beats. Born and raised in the Bronx, NY with a background in music production, he is the perfect leader for the role as he is able to inspire other NYC-based youth.

During junior high, he was introduced to FL Studio causing him to develop a deep interest in music production. Samuel attended and graduated from the Institute of Audio Research and furthered his education by being involved in internships with Smash Studios and Daddy’s House Recording Studio. Moving forward in his career, he has earned placements with MTV 2 "Off The Bat", "Girl Code" & "Guy Code" and is currently a member of production company ARESVP, curators of events, concerts, and artist development.

Shakilo Barton

bbWorkshops Programming Coordinator - LA

Shakilo Barton is a Program Lead at Building Beats and oversees all Los Angeles programming. Shakilo is also known as Lo Dino, a DJ/Producer and founder of No Scrubz Worldwide, an organization that empowers femme, trans, & non-binary talent. Sought out for her genre bending mixes of Trap, Bass, & Jersey Club; Dino's sonic journey has earned her a coveted spot in the music scene, sharing stages with renowned artists like Flying Lotus and Chromeo at venues like Life is Beautiful Festival, Brooklyn Bowl, and more.

With a passion for environmental and social justice, Shakilo is regularly searching for new ways to get involved in programs that help develop bipoc communities.

"Misha ""Silky"" Savage has been a staple of the cultural landscape of NYC since 2013. In pursuit of the sounds of his idols Nile Rodgers, Fela Kuti and Lee-Scratch Perry, he turned on a drum pad and switched over from Jazz guitar acolyte to Mothership-funk producer. He has gone on to lead Afro-Caribbean Dance orchestra The Saturators, as well as write and produce for Neo-Soul supergroup Herbivores.

He has worked with many organizations teaching Music Production, Songwriting, and MCing since 2015 including Building Beats, Beat Global & St. Nicks Alliance

He prefers to produce using Native Instruments Maschine and Ableton Live"

Music Releases