Thinking about what kind of lasting legacy you will leave behind is not something Fallon Schwab-Davis ever thought she would ponder so soon. Those thoughts crept into her mind during her battle with leukemia this past year but her fears were erased when the Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce named her as the Honorary Way recipient last Thanksgiving, renaming Honorary Way Street Fallon Schwab-Davis Way Street at the Ravenna Holiday Celebration Midnite Madness last Thanksgiving.
“It is truly mind blowing,” Schwab-Davis told The Weekly Villager on April 11. “As a kid I always wanted to make an impact on Ravenna somehow. My biggest thing, especially going through what I went through, I thought I might lose my life and my biggest fear always has been that I want to do something to be remembered. Just for a little bit it made me feel I made an impact or change somehow.”
Twice a year, the Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce recognizes a good Samaritan of Ravenna by renaming Honorary Way in their honor for six months. In Schwab-Davis’ case, she will hold that distinguished honor for a little bit longer as the next Honorary Way ceremony will take place on August 10 at the Ravenna Rocks concert to celebrate Ravenna’s 225th anniversary.
According to the 2014 Ravenna graduate, receiving that honor meant a lot to her especially in the months following as she continued receiving treatment.
“The following month, chemo really started to kick my butt,” she acknowledged. “There were times where I was like I don’t know if I can do this. Just by looking back at the pictures of that night and rewatching the video of Ryann Cline’s speech and the Mayor’s speech, it was my morale booster and my motivation because it just gave me hope.”
As of January, Schwab-Davis said she has received a clean bill of health and is in full remission. After several months of treatment, “DJ Krooze” is spinning again.
In her freshman year at Mount Union University, Schwab-Davis started a radio show called The Glow at 90.1 and needed a DJ name. Since she loved longboarding everywhere on campus, or cruising as she liked to call it, she became DJ Krooze.
Being on the radio was a good fit for Schwab-Davis, who said that she usually marched to the beat of her own drum when she was in high school.
“I always wanted to be different,” she added. “If I showed up to school with the same outfit as somebody else, I would literally walk out of the school and go change my outfit. I was all about being different.”
After graduating from Mount Union University in 2017, Schwab-Davis partnered with classmate Latif Hughes and they developed the entertainment company known as DJ Krooze and the KreewWay Experience.
They soon parted ways as their careers took them in different directions but Schwab-Davis kept the business. DJ Krooze and the KrewWay Experience have continued providing entertainment, offering entertainment to several venues in the Ravenna, Kent and Akron areas.
Schwab-Davis said that in any sort of social gathering that takes place, DJ Krooze and the KrewWay Experience will be there to make sure everyone is having a good time.
“We want to bring the experience to our audience – something they can continue to talk about for years to come. We just want to make sure it is the best quality possible for years to come,” she said.
Even with all of the success Schwab-Davis has achieved through her business, she has remained close to home by having Ravenna being her base of operation.
According to her, one of her biggest motivators has been to prove that success can come in the City of Ravenna, an area that has not always had the best reputation.
“Something about coming back and making my hometown proud just drove me to do what I am doing because growing up Ravenna had such a stigma to it,” she said. “People always said that Ravenna is ghetto, Ravenna is poor and Ravenna is this but I wanted to represent my hometown because, again, that is me challenging people’s opinions.”
With Schwab-Davis’ battle with leukemia in the rearview mirror, she has more motivation than ever to take DJ Krooze and the KrewWay Experience to new heights.
“There are some up days and some down days,” she noted. “I have a vision for my crew that I want to bring them up as much as possible. DJ Code Red is our newest addition and I want to show him how possible this career is and how fruitful it can be. I just want to take everyone to the next level with me.”
Future events for DJ Krooze and the KrewWay Experience will include providing DJ entertainment at a private NFL Draft party at Canton’s Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on April 25 and the Stark Pride Festival on June 8 in Canton.
As much as Schwab-Davis has enjoyed working locally, she wants to take her business statewide and even travel the country.
