How NYC Rave Girls Turned Post-Rave Debriefs Into a 10,000-Person Community

On any given week in New York, there are roughly 200 electronic music events to sift through.Ad 0:00 Click for sound 0:00 / 0:00 “This is so cool but also so insane,” Kseniya Sovenko of NYC Rave Girls tells EDM.com.

She would know, since combing through all of them is part of her weekly routine.For most people planning their night out, that volume is daunting.

Every party promises the best night of your life, the way every corner pizza joint claims the best slice in the city.A newcomer has to figure out which flyer is overselling itself, which crowd is there to dance rather than film, and which door won’t leave them stuck in line for an hour.

Not to mention, a woman heading out alone wants to know whether she’ll spend the night dancing or watching her back.Promoters, publicists and algorithms are constantly clamoring to shape people’s weekend plans.

But few have earned the kind of trust locals now place in NYC Rave Girls, two best friends whose strongest credential is that they actually spend their weekends on the dancefloor.Beyond their thoughtfully curated weekly “rave recs,” the duo is known for their no-phones parties and vibrant Discord community of over 10,000 members.

But how Kseniya Sovenko and Mary Wolff came to be NYC Rave Girls is a fortuitous story.Years ago, they worked at the same digital fitness company, and for a while, they were just distant coworkers.

That changed when Kseniya noticed the type of house music Mary was playing in the classes she taught.Sensing a shared taste in music, Kseniya invited Mary to Hot Honey Sundays’ annual boat party in 2021.

Scroll to continue more from edm Coachella and the Improbable Immortality of Fatboy Slim “There’s nothing like locking in a friendship by being stuck on a boat with someone you’re hanging out with for the first time,” Mary says with a laugh.“We danced for hours.”...