Editor’s note: a source used in this article is involved with The Daily Aztec

Dominic Fike. Lil Yachty. Cage the Elephant. Denzel Curry. Sexyy Red.

All these names share one thing in common: Vanessa Chan, standing just feet away from them, holding her camera and waiting for the perfect shot.

Chan is a third-year San Diego State University student, but more notably a self-made concert photographer. She’s photographed for all these artists — and dozens more.

“They’re all my favorite artists, the artists I grew up listening to,” Chan said. “It’s really full circle. Just such a surreal feeling.”

She’s also the director of social media at KCR College Radio, SDSU’s student-run radio station, where she manages all their socials, covers concerts and interviews artists. She runs her own blog- Daily Life of Nessa, contributes to the blog Fashionably Early and works independently with festivals like Camp Flog Gnaw, Rolling Loud and others. Currently, she’s interning with Wonderfront Festival, as well.

Things weren’t always so glamorous — she wasn’t always hopping around festivals and concerts in VIP and backstage. At one point, she was just a kid who loved live music with a passion for photography.

“I’ve just always been known as the music girl,” Chan said. “I would make playlists for people, and people would always come to me for music suggestions and stuff like that.”

Things started to change when she began her first semester at SDSU. There, she found KCR, and through that, she was able to make her dreams come true. Or at least begin to.

Chan says she joined KCR for the free concerts, but she ended up finding so much more than that. In fact, her first foray into concert photography was completely by chance, thanks to one misled woman at a box office.

Chan was picking up tickets from the box office to cover her first concert for KCR when the woman working spotted the camera Chan was holding. It was tiny, not at all a professional camera, and just so Chan could grab some shots for herself. But the woman forked over a photo pass instead of just a regular ticket.

“I literally had no clue what that meant,” Chan said. “I just went along with it, but then she escorted me backstage, and I was like, ‘Wait, shut up.’”

Chan ran with it.

It felt like a gift being dropped in her lap, she said. She’d always loved photography — an interest passed down from her father — and hadn’t realized she could blend that with her love for music. It was a game changer.

From then on, when she applied to cover concerts through KCR, she purposely applied for photo passes. And her concert photography passion began.

Since then, she’s photographed roughly 50 artists. She’s covered music festivals, local concerts and house shows. But that’s not all she’s gotten involved with. 

Chan also dabbles in music journalism. She currently contributes to a series called Way Too Early for the blog Fashionably Early.

“We try to find smaller artists and bands that we think are gonna be the next big thing. And we write about them,” Chan said.

Recently, Chan covered a new band called Porchlight that both formed and went viral in just six months. Outside of Fashionably Early, Chan writes for the KCR blog. She covers the same things: concerts, festivals and viral music moments. This is also where she posts her artist interviews.

“My favorite interview was Nardwuar,” Chan said. “I still cannot believe that happened. Like, it was actually so crazy.”

He’s a huge inspiration to her. So much so that she even credits him for being a big part of why she joined college radio in the first place. The two were able to talk while he was in San Diego on his tour, and she says she still considers it one of the most memorable moments of her work so far.

College radio is how he got his start, and Chan is no different. She gives KCR credit for being the start of everything and remains heavily involved to this day. She currently holds the director of social media position, something she says she takes very seriously.

“Photography is my favorite, but my focus is social media,” Chan said. “I definitely see more of a career in social media and marketing.”

She not only runs the KCR socials, but also wrings every other opportunity she can out of the club, something that doesn’t go unnoticed by her peers. Roman Aguilar, the Sports Director for KCR and Sports Editor for “The Daily Aztec,” says that in Chan’s two years with the club, she’s taken advantage of every resource she can and says yes to everything possible.

“She’s dedicated. She’s hardworking. She’s never satisfied; she has to do the next big thing and I think that’s the biggest compliment that you can give someone — they just want to keep improving,” Aguilar said. “And not doing that for other people, but doing that for herself, really shows her willingness to work.”

This eagerness to get her hands dirty extends into all her involvements. She posts regularly about every side job or accomplishment she has on her personal blog. There’s post after post of artist concert photos, big plans she has for the future, promotional videos and more day-to-day content she creates.

Chan’s not done yet. She says that even with all of her involvements, or “side quests” as she calls them, she’s always looking for what’s next up this summer, next year and beyond into post-grad life.

Chan has one year left of a double major in psychology and marketing. Her pipedream is to own her own digital marketing agency alongside her own psychology clinic- with music on the side, of course. 

“I want to mash together all my interests and stuff I love and am passionate about,” Chan said. “I’m just trying to get my toes into everything.”

More realistically, she says, she wants to pursue social media marketing. But for now, she plans to ride out her music gigs for as long as she can. Certainly long enough to be able to shoot for her next favorite artist on her list: Omar Apollo.

All of that said, even having brushed shoulders with celebrities, Chan’s not so different from the average fangirl all grown up. Turns out, some things never die. From being a raging One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer fan in elementary school to all her work now, she says she’s always been that same music-loving girl with big dreams.

“Growing up, I definitely thought that I was gonna be the next Zendaya,” Chan said. “But obviously that’s not what happened.”

Instead, Chan tied up her acting and singing shoes — that got her about as far as her debut in her middle school play — and now she’s found her place. 

“It’s been so eye-opening. I went from being in the crowd to a completely different perspective,” Chan said. “I was such a fangirl and now I work in the music industry. It’s just insane.”