It All Started
After Hours
Emily Wagner, aka DJ EM, was born and raised in New York City, where her love affair with music and nightlife started long before she could legally drive.
As a teenager, she was already part of the city’s electric club scene. School nights you’d find her at Studio 54, rolling home at 5 AM. She had her Sweet 16 at Xenon, one of the city’s most iconic spots at the time.
It was in the heart of the club world that her obsession with sound, movement, and the raw energy of a packed dance floor began. Em has always seen dance as a ritual of expansion and self-discovery—a way to tap into something larger than oneself. Together, dancers charge a room and forge unspoken bonds. Naturally, this obsession led her to the DJ booth, where she became captivated by how a DJ can tell a story through music, guide the crowd on a journey, shift the room’s vibe, and let people lose themselves in the rhythm.
Art making and telling stories have been the foundation of Em’s life and career. As a fine artist, writer, actress, filmmaker, creative director, or DJ, Em has always been driven by the art of storytelling — using sound, imagery, and movement to bring people deeper into the moment and connect with themselves. This ability to infuse narrative and energy into everything she touches has shaped her work, from the music she plays to the brands she builds. Her work sparks emotion, shifts energy, and takes people on a journey.
After studying Fine Art at Vassar, Em dove back into the NYC club scene under the moniker Pandora—her rap artist alter ego (gold-star bonded to her tooth and all)—promoting some of the city’s best hip-hop and house nights, including The Trip at Mars, owned by club impresario Rudolf Piper.
Under the mentorship and scene-shaping vision of Mars’s legendary creative producer, Yuki Watanabe, Em honed the art of curating world-class lineups and crafting unforgettable club nights—crediting him entirely for her nightclub-promoting prowess. Yuki appointed Em to host Planet Radio, a show where hip hop and house legends like Larry Levan, Clark Kent, DJ Red Alert, Afrika Bambaataa, Moby and Frankie Knuckles spun live on vinyl. Her deep immersion in the house DJ culture earned her the title "Queen of House" (legit — there’s a book somewhere that says it — she's still looking for it).
Em went on to create sweat-drenched, after-hours sanctuaries in the grand tradition of Paradise Garage, Sound Factory, The Shelter, and The Loft. In those temples of sound, floors slick and dusted in baby powder, die-hard house heads came together and danced from the 4 AM until noon.
When Em moved to the West Coast in the 90s, she wasted no time making waves in LA's vibrant club scene. She worked alongside top promoters and DJs, curating unforgettable nights. In the early 2000s, she picked up the decks herself and learned to spin vinyl. Soon, she was holding residencies at The Standard Hotel and The W Hotel, spinning everything from soul, disco, house classics and R&B to hip-hop, breakbeats, downtempo, dub, and lo-fi trip-hop.