Aja Sophia

Aja Sophia, Live Entertainment Producer

A production crew at work on a studio shoot: monitor, boom mic and camera framing a subject on a stool
An empty theater house seen from the stage, with the lighting rail above
Audience members laughing and holding up reaction signs during a live show
A director’s chair reading “Aja Sophia · Showrunner” in front of a stage

Live Entertainment Producer.

I make shows.

Mr. Prather on one knee onstage, arms wide, in front of a packed house of children with their arms in the air

MWMP Live!

MWMP Live!

  • Live theatrical / entertainment production
  • Co-Executive Producer · Writer · Creative Director · Lead Producer
  • End-to-end production
  • Move With Mr. Prather Live!
Aja on headset at the production table, working through the show paperwork
Mr. Prather and two cast members clowning in front of the Move With Mr. Prather Live! backdrop
The script outline for Move With Mr. Prather Live!: 7:00am call time, then timed segments and cues from doors open to “Ready to Learn!”
Children dancing on stage with Mr. Prather
Dates
2024, 2025, 2026
Venue
Multiple venues
Case study
Explore the production
An empty theater house in haze, rows of seats under the house lights

CultureTags Live!

The property

Gia Peppers
ThatGirlJayCole
Kier Gaines
KevOnStage
Mack Wilds

The people

Talent Gia Peppers, ThatGirlJayCole, Kier Gaines, KevOnStage, Mack Wilds and others Explore the production

CultureTags Live! mid-game: a prompt on the big screen, players at yellow hashtag podiums, a packed room

The show

Audience members cheering in CultureTags hashtag shirts

CultureTags Live!

  • Lead producer
  • Client: Eunique Jones Gibson / CultureTags
  • Existing IP → live entertainment
  • 2 live shows + 1 virtual production
  • 2020 · 2021 · 2022
  • Sold out (2022)

CultureTags Live!

  • Lead producer
  • Client: Eunique Jones Gibson / CultureTags
  • Existing IP → live entertainment
  • 2 live shows + 1 virtual production
  • 2020 · 2021 · 2022
  • Sold out (2022)

Hail Zel Show Live!

Hail Zel on the mic in a floor-length fur coat, one hand raised to the room
An audience member raises a “Ra ta ta taa!” sign as signs go up across the room
A table of guests laughing with “Ra ta ta taa!” signs held high
A guest mid-laugh, eyes closed, holding a sign
The Hail Zel Show game card, in use on stage
#TheHailZelShow broadcasting on Instagram Live, February 2018, 486 watching
Aja Sophia

Hail Zel Show Live!

My scope

  1. 01Concept
  2. 02Format
  3. 03Budget
  4. 04Venue
  5. 05Creative direction
  6. 06Set
  7. 07Script
  8. 08Run of show
  9. 09Crew
  10. 10Rehearsals
  11. 11Technical production
  12. 12Graphics
  13. 13Show calling

Hail Zel Show Live!

  • Original live format
  • 3 productions · all sold out
  • 2019 · 2020 · 2021
  • 300-person final show

We took a show born on Instagram Live and gave it a room. Explore the production

Hail Zel Show Live!

  • Original live format
  • 3 productions · all sold out
  • 2019 · 2020 · 2021
  • 300-person final show

We took a show born on Instagram Live and gave it a room. Explore the production

2025 → 2026 Program Producer

DC Design WeekProgramming

As part of the DC Design Week production team, I produced programming and experiences from planning through execution, collaborating with the larger team to bring each event to life.

The DC Design Week team on the Homegrown set, under the “DC Design Week Presents Homegrown” board
A participant mid-conversation at a POV portfolio review table
Homegrown guests Chela Mitchell, Cam Kirk, Aria Hughes and Domo Wells on the Homegrown set
Aja placing the orange chaise beneath the floral installation during the Homegrown build
Participants moving between stations at POV
The POV program folder: Creative Development Workshop & Portfolio Review, paper-clipped on a blue grid
Homegrown 2025 Program Producer POV Portfolio Review 2025 → POV 2026 Program Producer

DOTHEWORK DCFounder

Learning through production.

Community impact is the why.Production is the method.Young people are at the center.

A DOTHEWORK crew member directs on stage at MWMP Live!, run sheets in hand

I believe production is a powerful youth-development tool.

When young people are trusted with real responsibility on a real production, they develop skills they’ll carry far beyond the event. Communication. Accountability. Problem-solving. Time management. Teamwork. Adaptability. Confidence. They learn how to take direction, how to make decisions, and what it means to have other people depending on them.

That’s the idea behind DOTHEWORK. The production is the practice. Young people work real roles, on real projects, for real audiences, and learn by being a part of something bigger than themselves.

We care deeply about what we create. We care just as deeply about who a young person becomes because they were trusted to help create it.

Every job teaches something.

Call sheetDOTHEWORK DC
  1. 01 Check-in / Registration Communication · Professionalism · Relationship-building
  2. 02 Production Assistant Adaptability · Problem-solving · Time management
  3. 03 Talent / Participant Support Empathy · Confidence · Responsibility
  4. 04 Load-in / Setup Accountability · Initiative · Spatial awareness

Representative roles

Crew members adding sticky notes to a “What makes a strong team?” board
  1. Three DOTHEWORK crew members at the welcome table at Soufside Market

    01Check-in / Registration

  2. DOTHEWORK crew in the wings at MWMP Live!, reading the run sheets

    02Production Assistant

  3. A DOTHEWORK crew member leads a group of seated participants in a gym

    03Talent / Participant Support

  4. DOTHEWORK crew setting up activity stations before doors

    04Load-in / Setup

DOTHEWORK crew on the field at Maryland Stadium for Diggs Day
A DO THE WORK flag flying over Diggs Day

Diggs Day

for Stefon Diggs

Diggs Day

  • Organized youth engagement
  • 2025
  • Maryland Stadium
  • The DOTHEWORK crew in yellow at the “Dream of Community” wall, Soufside Market

    Soufside Market

    • Juneteenth
    • Concept-to-execution production
  • DOTHEWORK crew running the Tech on the Yard check-in table

    Tech on the Yard

    • DTW College Edition
    • Day-of production coordination
  • DOTHEWORK crew at the tech table on headset during MWMP Live!

    Move With Mr. Prather Live!

    • Bowie Center for the Performing Arts
    • The youth crew ran the show
    • Front of house
    • Backstage
    • Stage operations
    • Show calling
    • Setup + breakdown
    • Content capture

And more

Two people in DO THE WORK shirts hug under the market tents
A full room at Tech on the Yard in Deese Ballroom
A DO THE WORK. CREW badge at Bowie Center for the Performing Arts
A founder’s note

Selected productions + experiences

  1. The sanctuary at First Baptist Church of Glenarden during the Anniversary Production: the choir on stage under stage lighting, a full congregation standing

    First Baptist Church of Glenarden

    Anniversary Production Co-Producer Directed by Jimmy Jenkins

    2015

  2. Guests at the Pennsylvania Avenue East backdrop at Art All Night 2022

    Art All Night — Ward 7

    Creative Director

    2 years

Aja on a stool against a blue backdrop, reading a book held upside down
Aja at her laptop calling The Hail Zel Show, with Hail Zel beside her

About

I take an idea and figure out what it should become. Then I produce it.

I’m Aja Sophia, a live entertainment producer based in Washington, DC. I like getting there early, when something is still an idea, and staying through the part where the audience walks in.

Sometimes I’m building the show from scratch. Sometimes I’m figuring out how an existing idea works live. Sometimes I’m helping bring somebody else’s vision all the way into the room.

I’m a writer by instinct, a producer by practice, and most interested in the space where an idea becomes something people can actually experience.

I make things I want to exist, and I like being there for the whole process of making them real.

If it starts as an idea, I want to see how far we can take it.