Vibe & Ramona

Photography by Ryan Patterson

Both from New York, Zack Hellman aka The World Famous DJ Vibe and his other half Ramona Sidlo were interviewed at their home in Brooklyn in 2013. They are now recently engaged and living in Los Angeles together with their pups Homer and Gator.

VIBE: Studios can be a really personal thing. I like to collect a lot of weird little knickknacks. It’s hard because we have a big house, so it could look like hoarders in here real quick because there’s a lot of space. Before Ramona moved in, this place was rows of boxes. I knew where everything was, what box it was in, but I moved here and I unpacked my room and then I quit unpacking.

TWP: You got this place 8 years ago, right? Were you looking to buy at the time?

VIBE: I was living in Hell’s Kitchen and I wanted to get a space because back then I had all of these records, everyone was deejaying records, so I needed an extra bedroom at least. Everything in Manhattan was too small or just outside of my price range that would have been the right size. Then I found this listing and thought, fine I’ll look in Brooklyn. I never wanted to go to Brooklyn and it was the first one I saw on the New York Times real estate site.

RAMONA: There's a lot of 30 somethings here now, a lot of kids, there's a park down the street. Living in this house, it feels like a home. It has this feel to it that's so different from apartment living. We love having dinner parties, and we've had up to 30 people over at a time and no one is stuck sitting on each other's laps.

VIBE: At the time this neighborhood was not as nice. It’s gotten exponentially better, every year it gets better and better. I got lucky, I didn’t know what I was doing it was by chance, there wasn't a forecast that this would be a hot area. For the first three to four years no one would come out here. Brooklyn was like another world. You couldn't even get Seamless. It’s a lot of work because everything breaks and I manage the whole building for the other tenants, but I finally learned about Angie’s List. I don't know anything about plumbing.

TWP: What is a typical week look like?

VIBE: There’s always people working on the house here, and there's a lot of stuff to do so I try to spread the work throughout the week and then I spend the afternoons doing music in my studio and then I do jujitsu in the evenings. Ramona and I were supposed to do it together. I just got my blue belt.

RAMONA: There's always a stay at home parent. It's either me or Zack at home or out working. For us it works, luckily we're in a place that we can support each other. I am a brand manager, producing our lookbook shoots, focusing on social media, our inspirations, which, my heart is in that place. I started in New York working as a modeling agent, which I did for almost six years. I was 22 at the time so since then I have been immersed in that world and what goes on in the industry.

VIBE: I came to New York City and unintentionally ended up at music school. I wanted to produce music and ended up at NYU. I started working at Def Jam so I had access to a lot of music which has changed over time because now it’s all digital. A lot of my time I spent on stuff that's now obsolete. It went from the professional level to the consumer level so quickly. Things are always changing so it's a long learning experience. It's still fun to do. There's a great book called Mastery that I loved. I try to prioritize my learning. I don't think you can rest on your past accomplishments. Every time I meet with someone to try and do something new it's never about the work I've done, it's about what I can do.

RAMONA: Both Zack and I have never been afraid of taking a risk. I will leave a job if I don't like it and I am confident I will figure it out. It's always coolest to be yourself and to find your niche.

VIBE: It's corny but I agree, be yourself. When I was growing up I liked weird music and art that no one else liked and that influenced me to keep finding what I really liked.

RAMONA: We met through Chrissie Miller and we dated once and then he dumped me. We dated over six years ago, and then we were always friends because we lived on the same block. I was friends with all of his friends. I always had a thing for him, but I wasn’t ever going to say anything because he had dumped me so I was kind of like well let's see what happens!

VIBE: One day I started texting her and then the rest is history I guess (laughs). Now we’ve been together for over five years. Which for young people is an eternity. We’ve always been friends with each other, so it made sense to just start dating.

RAMONA: It made sense. I mean we do have to make it work, we put in effort to make our relationship work, but we each do our own thing. Vibe and I are better when we're individuals. We do really well as a team, we’re a great team, we get stuff done, we can make it happen, but if we’re too much together all the time it’s not fun, we’re both super independent.

We’ve always been friends with each other, so it made sense to just start dating.

VIBE: We enjoy hanging out together. We do really fun stuff together, but I don't think we could run a company together.

RAMONA: We go to cultural talks, lectures, we both like politics, we don't go to see a lot of art, but we're big into music we go to the opera, broadway shows. Vibe will Google "most romantic places in Brooklyn for dinner." We try to make our time together unique and different.

VIBE: We both like to try things together that we have never done individually. We're big into exploring.

RAMONA: If someone recommends a place in the outer boroughs we'll go try it. If there's a spot in the Bronx, or Lefferts Boulevard in Queens, Bay Ridge, we're going, and that is exciting because we're not always doing the same thing as everyone in Manhattan. There's thousands of places to go. We love going to places we have never been. We try to bring our friends along too, baiting them with the car ride.

VIBE: We like to encourage others to come on the adventure with us or pursue things like that for themselves. It's easier with someone else, to break out of your comfort zone.

RAMONA: The best time in our relationship was when we had only been dating a year and Vibe got a residency in Tokyo for three months and so we packed up and went together. It was a real testament as to what was going to happen. We didn't have phones, barely had the internet, the apartment was super small, we were in a different culture, no one speaks English, and I am a really fussy eater. If it was going to work with us we were about to find out in those three months.

VIBE: I had been to Tokyo about three other times and on this trip we did a bunch of things that I had never done before. I had someone to do things with.

Vibe will Google "most romantic places in Brooklyn for dinner."

VIBE: I like traveling, but coming home is nice too.

RAMONA: Zack is more of a homebody. He's also really good with money and I am not.

VIBE: You're way more social than I am, you're better at caring and doing nice things for other people.

RAMONA: I'm very curious, I ask people a million questions. I'm not scared to walk into a room full of people I have never met. I jump in and get comfortable. We are the exact opposite of each other and we're able to fill those holes for the other person. Whatever he needs, I hope I can give that to him.

VIBE: Though the areas that we both think we're good, become a competition.

RAMONA: He's a Sagittarius and I am an Aries, both compatible signs so maybe it will work out after all.

VIBE: It's cosmic.

It's easier with someone else, to break out of your comfort zone.

RAMONA: New York is truly romantic. It's a little magical. Maybe you see someone once and then you could run into them a month later on the subway. This city encourages you to be out and to be exploring. We have access to so many things. We've really hit a home run by trying to make our relationship work with dates and activities.

VIBE: People in New York experience events together even when they don't know each other. Things happen in the world and it impacts New York right away, there's a such a shared common bond between people.

RAMONA: At the same time, New York can be a pretty lonely place. You have to have your partner in crime. You want to have someone you can share this experience with.

VIBE: I have worked in nightlife and clubs my whole life and I have never thought that it's a good place to meet or connect with someone. You get to know someone by spending time with them one on one.

RAMONA: Yesterday we drove to Long Island and listed to Howard Stern. We have a lot of those moments together.

RAMONA: Both Zack and I are one day at a time kind of people.

VIBE: I've had luck when I do the opposite of what I normally do or think. I think we think we know what's coming next but you never know. I've gotten rid of a lot of expectations and it's made life more enjoyable. Letting go of the idea of the thing you think you need to do.

RAMONA: We live full lives. I have everything that I need, everything that I want. I am full of gratitude for all the things that we have and new doors are constantly opening. It took me a long time not to hold onto the past and be able to breeze into the future. I feel solid in that we have each other and whatever is going to happen will happen.