Bali, Rome, Florence, Madrid, Barcelona, Ibiza, Ireland, Punta Cana, and Penn State don’t have much in common, except for the fact that Izzy Priano, aka Dizzy, has DJed in all of them.

Priano always enjoyed house music, but once she came to Penn State, she learned that she loved house music. And once she picked up a DJ board, it changed her life.

Priano connected with the Greek life and culture at Penn State with the countless DJs playing everywhere. Entering her junior year of college, she was looking for a new hobby to be passionate about and took the jump, buying her own DJ board with a friend.

Some of her friends in frats took her under their wing, teaching her the basics. From there, Priano used YouTube videos to expand her skills and build her foundation that fall semester. In the spring, Priano studied abroad in Florence and ended up playing in almost every country she visited, starting by just holding her phone up and writing, “I DJ too, can I come play with you?”, with countless DJs taking her up.

But it was also through these early experiences that Priano found motivations to take her skills to the next level.

“I didn’t realize how little I knew about DJing until I started DJing with people who do it all the time,” she said. “Normally, they were pretty nice, and if I was clearly making a mistake, they would help me. But there was one night that I got up there, and I guess I was doing it very wrong, and this one DJ was like, ‘You need to get down, you’re not ready to be at this level.’ I was really upset about it, obviously, because I just played at like 10 other places, and they were super helpful. But then that kind of motivated me. I was like ‘OK, fine. I’m gonna work hard at this and see what I can do.'”

Priano’s study abroad program took her to multiple cities, with six weeks in each Australia, Italy, and Spain. Once she arrived in Spain, she was determined to get her own set and got in touch with DJ DRock, who sent her contacts to reach out to. Within a week, she had her own set.

But Priano was still new. She didn’t know how to download music, didn’t have a flash drive, didn’t know how to prepare for a set in general, let alone in another country.

“I called my friend, who had played a few times at Penn State, and I was like, ‘What do I need to do?’ He walked me through everything. And since I was freaking out and I only had a week, I rented out these studios in Spain five days a week, for like five hours a day, trying to learn how to use the equipment, figure out how I’m going to perform live in front of a bunch of people,” Priano said.

Her first set was a success.

The next day, she left Madrid and took a train up to Barcelona for another set. And this set went even better. She was invited back to play at Opium Club the next day, one of the biggest clubs in Barcelona.

“That was the greatest feeling ever, because I literally just learned how to DJ, and I’ve been going to the studio five days a week practicing, and I’m getting to play in the main room at one of the biggest clubs in the world, that was just like the best feeling ever,” she said.

At Opium, she did a back-to-back the next night, playing with another DJ where they take turns mixing songs into each other on the main floor. From there, she played the main room in Shoko, another one of the biggest clubs in Barcelona. She continued playing in basements all over and was invited to DJ on a boat in Ibiza, Spain.

Then she came back home to Columbus, Ohio, and needed to find a way to keep going.

Priano DJed all summer at bars in Columbus to grow skills and confidence, reaching out to all the bars here in State College when she got back to school. From here, her confidence rocketed.

She started playing weekly at Primanti Bros, earning the top Thursday spot. She also played at frats and Stage West, opening for artists like Sean Kingston. After reaching out to Champs all year, Priano finally got the chance to DJ there the last week of her senior year.

Over spring break, she made the trip out to Punta Cana and had probably her biggest crowd of around 3,000 people. She opened for artists in a real cave, with water dripping, bars built into the walls, and when the bass dropped, it was the coolest boom she’d ever heard in her life.

After graduating in May, Priano is back to traveling the world.

She was booked this summer, with over 20 sets everywhere from New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Ohio, Philly, Hawaii, and Belgium.

While in Spain, Priano met a DJ from Belgium whom she kept in touch with, and they did a set swap. Priano got him some sets over here in the US, and he got her sets in Belgium, including at Tomorrowland, one of the biggest music festivals in the world. She’s already been invited back next year.

“It was one of the best sets of my whole life… It was really inspiring to see all the bigger artists, like everyone’s dream is to play on the main stage at Tomorrowland. So when I came home, it kind of pushed me to keep going and keep working on my dream,” Priano said.

Now that she’s graduated, Priano is looking to set herself apart from other DJs and set up her career by producing her own music.

She attended some Penn State Music Club meetings, where she met Ryan Hazen, who has been producing for a long time. They’ve been helping each other since, with Hazen teaching Priano how to produce and Priano helping him with DJ gigs in return.

“Everyone can play the same mixes, everyone can find the same songs, yeah, but if you have your own things to put out there, then it really sets you apart and moves you up a whole other level,” she said.

Priano has just sold out her headliner shows in Hawaii, with no looking back.