(
BusinessInsider.com) When Justin Blau, a junior at Washington University in St. Louis, was interning at Credit Suisse's New York offices last summer, his life was a lot different.
Different in the sense these days the 21-year-old is being followed by Paris Hilton on
Twitter, he's scheduled to do shows with T-Pain and Passion Pit and electro pop group LMFAO is posting his music on their
Facebook wall, which has more than 13.4 million "likes".
Blau, a mash-up artist who goes by the stage name of 3LAU, has been catching the attention of people all around the world since his days as a Wall Street intern.
"Back then I just started to get recognition," Blau told
Business Insider in a telephone interview. "I showed up at
Credit Suisse and two interns had my song on their
iPod. Back then, that was awesome."
Fast-forward ten months, the DJ is slated to perform in shows in April with big names such as R3HAB, Afrojack, Alesso, Dev, Killagraham, Passion Pit, T-Pain, Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, Hot Chel Rae, B.o.B, Macklemore and Basshunter. He's received requests to do shows internationally in India, England, Australia and Canada, but can't take them (yet) because of school.
Since he's booking shows at major venues and music festivals all summer, he won't be returning to Wall Street as an intern. Blau received offers from two major
financial firms, but declined them so he could continue DJing.
It's no secret that college students often dream about pursuing careers that they're really passionate about instead of doing the corporate grind at a 9 to 5 desk job simply because it pays the bills.
"This is an opportunity that you never get -- I never imagined myself getting paid well to do what you love to do."
CONTINUED AFTER THE JUMP
.png)
