Helena  

At just 17, Bristol-born Helena Atherton dived into the deep end of dance music and moved to Ibiza. Back then, she was promoting clubs, not playing them, but those crazy years working the biggest parties (Pacha, Manumission, Eden) on the planet gave her skills for life.

"It gave me a lot of confidence," she recalls. "You have to be outgoing, walking round the streets promoting and trying to convince the people to come to your night. It was a really good learning curve and I made a lot of good contacts that I still have now. It was an amazing experience."

Two years later, she moved to Birmingham to run the legendary Sundissential superclub for eight years. Mentored by superstar DJs like Lisa Lashes and Eddie Halliwell, she started spinning records in the club's back room for fun and before she knew it, her "hobby" had become her profession and she was conquering the biggest clubs in the UK and Ibiza.

"Music breathes life into me," she says. "I didn't get into DJing because I wanted to be famous or make a career out of it. I got into it because I genuinely love the music, and that's what driven me forward to this point. I'm very blessed that I can make a career out of something that I love."

Hungry for a change of scene, she decided to make the most of her dual citizenship and moved to Sydney five years ago. In no time, she was headlining the countries biggest clubs such as Family, Platinum, Chinese Laundry and quickly set the scene on fire with her searing house sets and high-profile persona. Pioneer came to the party too, enlisting her an ambassador for the brand.

Tellingly, she says the biggest highlight of her career wasn't playing in Ibiza or England, it was closing the Sunburnt Christmas party at her adopted home of Bondi Beach last year. "I played the closing set after The Freestylers, with all my friends and crew going off behind me while I'm going for it. That was very memorable. There were 5000 people there and everyone was going nuts!"

She's come a long way from that back room in Birmingham, but Helena says she wouldn't have made it without discipline and dedication; especially given she's a girl running riot in what used to be a boys-only playground.

"You have to work harder to prove you're credible, because people are a lot quicker to criticise female DJs," she comments.

So with everything she's seen and done, what's her advice for fellow females hitting the decks? "Be good, practise a lot and don't think you can just wing it off the back of your looks," she says.

"When you go out and play professionaly, you will have critics and the only way to answer them is to be good at what you do. That's my main advice - don't play out until you're good enough don't rush it. Especially with the big clubs, you only get one shot!"