July 9, 2023 10p
(WGTD)---A junior high school experience led to an eventual business opportunity for Diego Villalobos, who then in high school started dating his future wife and business partner. Years later, marketing classes at Gateway Technical College would open the door even further for the couple.
Diego and his wife Dianna outlined their stories on this past weekend's Community Matters program on WGTD.
They're owners of Midwest DJ Productions, a company that started out as a part-time DJ service at weddings and parties, then grew into a full-time event planning business that now counts corporations as its clients.
Diego Villalobos traces his business roots to staging record hops as a student at Washington Jr. High in Kenosha.
Dianna Villalobos says the business became the couple's sole source of income a few years ago. Additional success was achieved after Dianna took marketing classes at Gateway. "That first year I went back to school at Gateway and the very next year we got 'Best of Kenosha'," she said, referring to a community competition that rates businesses. She's now four classes shy of an Associate Degree.
The couple's three adult sons are also involved in the business. One is a full-time, business management student at Gateway and eventually hopes to take over the business reins of the company.
Diego says they want to grow the business even more. "We want to grow not only with the size of our equipment and with the size of our parties but also with the volume of parties," he said. "But at the same time we don't want to grow too fast where we forget our roots and what makes us exceptionally good."
Midwest DJ Productions is also community-minded. The company is staging a two-day festival July 29th and 30th at Kemper Center. It raises money for cancer patients and research through the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, and will feature performances by some 20 DJs.
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