Alexandra Pohl is proudly marching to the beat of her own drum.
Not quite done with her senior year at the University of Miami, Xandra—the marketing major whose relatable videos have helped her amass nearly 1 million TikTok followers—has already built a thriving DJ career. And although she was able to break into the industry over time, she admits it wasn't an easy road to get there—especially in a largely male-dominated field.
"I've been DJing since I was a junior in high school, so I started off really early," the influencer explained in an exclusive interview with E! News. "I just got really bored in high school with everything and I was like, what can I do?"
Xandra eventually found her musical calling. "I always loved music, music festivals, I was going to those since I was in grade school," the 22-year-old continued. "And I was like, 'I really want to do music but I can't sing, I can't dance, I can't produce. What can I do?' I was like, 'I can mix.'"
Thankfully, she had a willing collaborator in her mom.
"I'm like, 'Hey mom, I'm gonna become a DJ, can you get me a DJ board?'" the Ohio native recalled. "She was like, 'What are you talking about?' But thankfully my mom is a very supportive woman, she knew I was going through something and she was like, 'You know what? OK, fine, let's go to the store.'"
@xandrapohl this is the story people have been asking for :) #dj #grwmroutine #femaledj #femaledjsarecool #girlpower #makeuptutorial #makeup #music #umiami #universityofmiami #storytime #storytimemakeup #storytimevideos #xyzbca #mystory #lifehack ? original sound - xandra
From there, Xandra really put in the time to really hone her skills. "I sat there on my computer with my little mixer for hours on YouTube just teaching myself and, like, it was awful at the beginning," she explained. "It's a lot of technology, it's a lot of stuff to learn."
"Then I came to Miami and broke into the frat scene," she continued. "It's a hard industry for a female to break into especially in Miami and especially though the frat scene. It definitely made me a lot harder as a person. But it really paid off. I did my first club at 18 in Miami and I've been doing it ever since."
For Xandra, whose passion has always been music, she'll continue to make a name for herself in the DJ world after wrapping up her college career.
As she promised E!, "You'll see a lot more DJ stuff coming."