Caroline Chang
Who says women can’t have it all?
In a world where women are often made to feel that we need to speed up or slow down, do more or be less — to have to choose — remarkable women shine through and prove that with a few helping hands and a little grace, we can, in fact, strike the intricate balance between our careers, our creative endeavors, and our children.
One of these incredible women is Jenessa Acosta, a local rising DJ, head honcho to the widely trusted dance music event producer and artist collective Blind Tiger, and newly, a girl mom. I caught up with Jenessa just before her electric 2-3 a.m. set at NIGHTSHIFT, Blind Tiger’s signature all-night underground party. She was buzzing about a new track she had just written in the studio earlier that day with her partner and Blind Tiger co-founder Art, also known by his artist name BINGEWATCH.
“We had a huge amount of time in the studio because the baby took a longer nap than expected. An idea that we started a while ago came back into our heads and we got the creative juices to work on it again,” Jenessa said about her productive afternoon that day. “It was really fun and natural — we were cooking, we were focused, and I was like ‘We need to play this tonight. It has to happen.’” As the night got fully underway, the small 200-cap event space filled with LA’s grooviest night dwellers, and Jenessa played the track out to a very receptive crowd full of dancing feet and nods of approval.
Jenessa running the decks at Blind Tiger (Caroline Chang @carochangcreative)
“That was the first track that I had actually completed and was able to play out in the club, so it was really special for me, especially with it being the first project that Art and I have worked on together. I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Jenessa gushed about the moment with her partner, “He’s my biggest inspiration and supporter.”
Jenessa first came onto the Los Angeles underground electronic music scene in 2020. Soon after, she left behind her career in celebrity hair styling to pursue her passion for electronic music full-time, leaning into growing as a DJ and building Blind Tiger from the ground up.
Since then, she’s been billed at top events like Insomniac’s Day Trip Festival and supported John Summit at the KIA Forum. She’s played The LA Coliseum, Exchange LA, Academy and is often gracing the decks at Hollywood’s iconic house and techno spot Sound Nightclub, on top of frequently popping in for a set Blind Tiger events around LA.
Blind Tiger’s NIGHTSHIFT has grown to be one of the most popular after-hours spots in the city. It can be found down a dark alley in DTLA seven nights a week, bumping minimal, techno and house beats until the early hours of the morning — and was named one of LA Weekly’s Best Parties of 2024.
Despite their unassuming presence and very ‘if-you-know-you-know’ aura, Blind Tiger events have gained a reputation as destinations for discovering talent, building connections, letting loose, and digging deep into dance music. They feed the soul of LA’s dance music scene.
(Caroline Chang @carochangcreative)
As the first rays of the morning sun peak through around 5 a.m., Jenessa and Art retreat home after both individually playing hour-long sets. They arrive just in time to relieve their babysitter, soothe baby Vermona through the sunrise, set her back to sleep and settle down for a few more hours before starting their days. Jenessa gets up briefly to feed her daughter at 8 a.m., and then at 9 a.m., Art takes the reins and goes for a walk with the baby while Jenessa finds some more time to rest.
After dancing until the early hours of the morning and crashing for a few hours myself, I head back over to East Hollywood Saturday morning to meet up with Jenessa at her favorite everyday coffee spot.
The man at the cash register greets Jenessa with a warm smile and asks where baby Vermona and Art are that morning. A server walking by stops her to say hello and ask about her weekend.
“Recently, we’ve been really inspired to nail in our routines and have our rituals. As a family, we love to start our days with coffee walks,” Jenessa says while sipping her iced matcha latte. But it’s taken a lot to get to this point. For the first couple of months after giving birth, she struggled to show up with the same energy in her life, both personally and professionally. “In the beginning of my postpartum recovery, it was just her and her dad going on coffee walks. Eventually, I got the courage to go myself and now it’s something that’s really important in my everyday routine.”
Having founded Blind Tiger together, often DJing in parallel, and now tackling parenthood, Jenessa and Art are constantly leaning on each other as they ebb and flow through balancing family with their demanding artist careers. She points to their ability to work from home and create their own schedules together as a crucial privilege in staying committed to their careers while also being able to keep their family at the forefront.
“It is tough to be in this career choice and have children. There is a lot of traveling involved and lots of late nights. But at the same time, we’re fortunate enough to spend a lot of time at home, working from home, working on music, and being in the studio. Like yesterday after that two-hour nap she had, once the baby woke up, we just brought her into the studio and involved her.”
(Caroline Chang @carochangcreative)
Jenessa admits that she is still learning to overcome challenges as a new mother who is building a career in a world that wasn’t designed for her. “I have a dancer background, so for me, a DJ set is a performance. I do my hair, makeup, wardrobe … so one of the biggest changes for me has been learning how to dress my new body and wearing the appropriate things to be able to pump [milk] as well,” she says.
She played one of the biggest shows of her career, supporting John Summit at the KIA Forum, just a month after giving birth. “I played a stadium show in November after having the baby in October, so I was pumping. I needed to talk to the team and be like, ‘Hey, can I have green room access so I can pump privately and store my milk’ and arrange all the things, but they were cool.”
Even with working through some adjustments as she leans into motherhood, Jenessa absolutely glows with gratitude. “I am lucky enough to have such a beautiful and supportive community, so really there haven’t been too many sacrifices or difficult changes [since having the baby] … Like picking back up, playing the shows again, and getting my creative juices flowing — there was no challenge in that state,” Jenessa shares. “We’ve really just tried to prioritize spending time with her and taking a lot of slow moments. We’re just taking things day by day, step by step.”
As we’re wrapping up lunch, Art strolls up to the cafe with baby Vermona strapped to a carrier. It’s a warm but cloudy afternoon in Hollywood, but the trio shares radiating smiles.
Art, Jenessa and baby Vermona (Caroline Chang @carochangcreative)
“We just work so well together, and I think that’s what’s made being parents together easy. Blind Tiger was essentially our first baby. People in our community already called us ‘mom and dad’ before we actually were, so when we announced that we were having a baby, everyone was like, ‘Of course — mom and dad for real.’ It just made sense.” Jenessa says about her multifaceted partnership with Art.
The three of them project a beautiful vision of what a modern creative family can be, proving that being an artist, career-oriented, and a parent is not mutually exclusive — the lives we want can be built and traditions are only a cage if we allow them to bind us.
Jenessa shared that her and Art’s vision for Blind Tiger is to continue growing, expanding the reach of their events and moving towards delivering some of their own releases. They recently launched an additional event series in West Hollywood called GRUVBOX that serves to bridge the gap between the gritty underground scene and the glitzy high-energy vibe of Weho, bringing a new audience into the Blind Tiger community.
As far as her aspirations for her family goes, Jenessa shared her desire to bring her daughter along for the whole journey — touring, festivals, and everything in between: “I want her to be there with her headphones on. I want our parents to be there with us as well. It can be very family oriented, and I love that about what we do.”
Keep with Jenessa Acosta on Instagram @jenessaacosta, and Blind Tiger @blindtiger.la and www.blindtiger.la.
Jenessa Acosta on the May 23, 2025 cover of LA Weekly (Photo: Caroline Chang @carochangcreative; Cover design: Jewel Baek)