It Takes a Village

Providing a meaningful and unique learning environment for our students takes a team of individuals coming together to enrich our curriculum and to cultivate our students' understanding of their world by interacting with inspirational and nurturing industry professionals. Below are some of our program's guest speakers and patrons.

Alec Loshonkohl - producer, recording engineer

Alec Loshonkohl is a Los Angeles based member of the music community.  Most recently, Alec served as a freelance marketing assistant for The Constellation Quartet, as well as the Operations Manager for Sound Tiger Songs – a full-service music production team. Alec has also worked as a music producer and audio engineer with various local artists.

In conjunction with his work, Alec also has a passion for the field of music education. He has presented numerous workshops on music creation to students without formal music training and of low-income communities. Alec received his Master’s in Music Industry Administration at Cal State University Northridge and Bachelor’s in Composition from Cal State University Long Beach.
Alec demonstrating the Ableton Push (2021)

Amanda Fernandez - DJ, artist Manager

Amanda Fernandez got her start in the music industry at just 18 years old. Beginning as a club and event promoter, she evolved into DJ-ing at those same events and clubs all around the Inland Empire. Throughout the past decade, she has played in multiple venues throughout the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, and Orange County. While in undergrad at California State University San Bernardino, Amanda became the Promotions Director for Coyote Radio, the school’s radio station. Every academic quarter, the position entailed teaching a group of students about radio promotion and marketing and providing hands-on experience at campus events. She was then promoted to Student Operations Manager, the highest level student position at the radio station. With overseeing and teaching over 300 students, she provided first hand experience with different departments such as on-air DJ, promotions, audio production, music implementation, and social media marketing. She was also a main interviewer for the award winning broadcast program “My Awesome Empire.” 

Amanda interned for the Grammy award winning Avila Brothers’ father, Bobby Avila Sr. helping run public relations for his non-profit organization, N’telligent Entertainment. Upon graduation in 2016, she received two bachelor's degrees in Media Studies and Public Relations with dual minors in Recording Arts and Marketing, was the commencement speaker for the College of Arts and Letters, awarded employee of the year at Coyote Radio, and won the Student Media Representative award presented by the American Advertising Federation. 

Amanda began her career in the music industry in 2016, interning for Rhino Entertainment, a catalog label under Warner Music Group. She stayed within the Warner Music Group umbrella for three additional years, employed with WEA, Atlantic Records, and Warner Bros. (now Warner) Records. In 2019, she joined Disney Music Group, working as a publishing coordinator, specifically mechanical licensing. Currently, she is still with Disney Music Group, now in the synchronization department as a licensing coordinator. She continues to DJ as well as dive into artist management, attending networking events, and taking opportunities within the music industry that peak her interest and can elevate her career. Amanda is a person with initiative, tenacity and ambition, and is determined to make herself known in the music industry, as well as inspire others who are trying to get their foot in the door. To top it all off, she received a master’s degree in Music Industry Administration from California State University Northridge in May 2022. 

Chucky Kim - PRODUCER, MIXING ENGINEER, EDUCATOR

"Chucky Kim is a Los Angeles-based music producer, mixing engineer, and bassist. Spanning genres, his unique production process incorporates unique generative environments to aid artists in exploring out-of-the-box creative experiences. He is currently Artistic Director of CultureHub Studios (Los Angeles), a creative center that explores the convergence of art + technology, while also serving as an Advisor/Producer to BiotaBeats, an initiative of the MIT Media Lab and EMW (Boston). 

As a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, he has written extensively on community studies, the nature of creativity, and ethical formation. His most recent productions "Great Sinners EP" (HC Smith) and "Ukulele Days" (Cynthia Lin) gained first round Grammy nominations (Best Rock Song, Best Rock Album, Best Rock Performance) and Billboard #8 (World Albums) + #15 (Jazz Albums) respectively." -ChuckyKim.com
On April 2021, Chucky gave Poly students a unique experience to see a piece of music being created from scratch. Chucky, an established musician and producer for a major record label who has made instrumental tracks for some of K-Pop's biggest acts, demonstrated how to create and build upon the fundamental elements of music (such as tempo and rhythm) and layering it with commonly used tools as well as extracting certain components in order to create the music we hear everyday. Chucky encouraged us to pay attention to the characteristics that differentiates each song, genre and style of music. In doing so, Chucky showed us that we too can be the creator of great music once we realize what we are trying to express and how best to represent those expressions with sound.
Chucky collaborating with Poly students in April, 2021 to create a song from scratch using Ableton
Music Producer
@ Sony Music

Jared forman - composer, audio engineer, producer

Jared is a composer and music producer for film and television. He has worked with renowned composers Danny Elfman (Nightmare Before Christmas, Men in Black, Justice League, The Simpsons, Dr Strange 2), Kevin Kiner (Ghost in the Shell, CSI Miami, The Peacemaker, Titans) and Gustavo Santaolalla (The Last of Us video games, Brokeback Mountain, Babel). Along with his own work, he wrote music for many television series including Making a Murderer, Star Wars: Rebels, Jane the Virgin, Hell on Wheels, and Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

Jared has been involved in music from a very early age, playing on beginner’s guitars & his dad’s Wurlitzer organ. He started playing clarinet, bass clarinet, and guitar (formally) around the age of 10. Shortly after, he picked up electric bass, saxophone, and drum set. Writing songs and small compositions throughout high school, he quickly found that his niche was composing. Jared started working as an assistant engineer to the late Brian Friedman (Ike & Tina Turner, Jerry Fuller, Michael Bloomfield) in his mid-teens where he got a lot of experience with musicians, singers, and producers. Continuing producing & engineering through college, he also began being mentored by music producer Marc Mann. After receiving his Bachelor's degree in music from California State University, Northridge, Jared started working alongside Steve Bauman and together they wrote for various music libraries, and have seen placements throughout many television shows, films, and commercials.
Jared showing his DAW session of a movie score (2020)
Jared as a guest judge for student compositions during a summer enrichment program in 2022
#LAUSDgrad

Kev Luu - producer, DJ, Recording engineer, educator

Kev Luu is a music producer/engineer, artist and educator originally from Las Vegas, NV. After studying at the world-renown Berklee College of Music in Boston for music production/engineering and electronic production and design, Kev worked at the renown Studio at the Palms in Las Vegas from 2012 to 2017. Though he started as a tea boy, Kev eventually worked his way up to becoming a staff engineering, where he has worked with Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Tyga, Cindy Blackman, Carlos Santana, Shaq, Joe Bonamassa, Eddie Kramer, Human Nature, and many other established artists and musicians.

​After relocating to Los Angeles in 2019, Kev has been working as engineer/producer at Atlantic Records, The Village Studios, and Woodshed Recording. Kev most recently worked with Lil' Wayne and received credit on the song "Sunshine" by Latto, featuring Lil' Wayne and Childish Gambino.
Kev on beat making using a variety of sounds (2021)
Kev helped to record a song written by Demis Serrano '22
Kev helped to produce and record Poly students' music, including Demis who won first place in the vocalist category for the Soundtrap for Education Beat Battle in June 2022

mika abadie (born dirty) - dj, producer, artist

"Born Dirty, who was actually born Mika Abadie, is an Israeli native who spent his childhood in France, moved to London as an adult and now resides in East Los Angeles. His accent serves as an abstract map of his upbringing, and while his symphony of intonations are certainly the most noticeable evidence of his diverse upbringing, it’s the myriad influences scattered across his music that truly tell the tale.

His discography – fives years worth of singles and EPs including collabs with Cassius, Anna Lunoe and Diplo — flits from tribal bass breaks to syrupy hip-hop, pulling from across the spectrum of music he’s experienced: a percussive beat influenced by the hypnotic Middle Eastern sounds of his childhood, a booming rap overlay that evokes French hip-hop, or a darker club track straight from the illegal raves that colored his time in London." - Billboard (2020)
​Poly's partnership with Mika began in November, 2022 and our students were blown away by Mika's generosity in demonstrating tips and techniques on developing and creating electronic music. Mika not only encouraged our students with the possibilities of the tools that they already have at their disposal but also provided us with a deeper understanding of the music that we consume. We are incredibly humbled that someone like Mika, who has collaborated with artists like Diplo and performed at sold out domestic and international shows and music festivals like Lollapalooza with tens of thousands in attendance, has come out to spend his time off to share his expertise with us.
Mika creating tracks on Ableton for Poly student Genaro R. to rap over (November, 2022)

motionzz - edm artist, producer, dj

Based in Southern California, Motionzz has proven his success in the music industry. His first remix "S.H.A.M.E." accumulated over 4 million views and streams and is still a fan favorite. His music has been placed on Youtube channels such as "Trap City" and similar playlists with over 5M views. Originally producing trap music, Motionzz has expanded his talent into other EDM genres like house and techno. He specializes in "vocal chops" and that continues to maintain his authenticity as an artist. His music is enjoyed by many all over the world. 

Motionzz remixing a version of former student Demis Serrano's original song in 2021
Continue exploring our village of experts