Leah Mencel  

Leah Mencel had a unique motivation for becoming a DJ - she wanted an excuse not to dance at clubs.

"I love music but I don't really dance," says the softly-spoken spinner. "So I was really over standing by the wall feeling awkward. I was like 'how can I get most involved in this situation without dancing?' and I was like I could be that guy up there!"

Almost two years on, this reluctant wallflower has discovered DJing not only gets you out of dancing, it can also score you free drinks, get you paid and provide unforgettable experiences. And with Leah recently deferring her law degree, it can also, unwittingly, become your career.

"I wanted to focus solely on DJing," she says. "The two lifestyles just don't go together. It's hard to be a full time student and do the hours that law demands and push myself at DJing. It was burning the candle at both ends."

After practising relentlessly at home, she made her debut at Glenelg's Jetty Bar where she used to work and fell in love with the feeling.

"You get such a buzz from it," she says. "Every DJ can relate to that feeling when you're feeling the build up and know the drop is coming and the crowd knows it too."

After a set one night, she was approached by the owner of one of Adelaide's leading clubs, Electric Circus, and offered a Friday night residency at its sister bar, Rocket. Here she played before graduating to Electric Circus. Since then, she's played after-parties for Parklife and Future, soundtracked VIP corporate events and fashion catwalks, as well as playing private parties for R&B superstars like Usher, Chris Brown and Trey Songz.

But she says those moments pale in comparison to her festival debut at Stereosonic 2010 in front of thousands. "I mixed in after Major Lazer and that was pretty crazy," she recounts excitedly. "I was so nervous beforehand. I couldn't drink, couldn't eat, but it was the best buzz in the world. Walking off after the set and realising that it had all gone so well and the response was insane, that was probably the best feeling ever."

Next up, Leah's determined to break out of her Adelaide bubble and she's eyeing overseas, but right now, as the youngest finalist in the Top 10, she's just soaking up being in She Can DJ.

"No one in the world has ever done anything like this before - getting ten of the best female DJs together in such a major way," she says. "We're only in the early stages today, but I can see all the girls benefiting from it already. The start of this was really underground and once the girls catch wind of it, the game in 2012 will definitely get a lot bigger and they'll be a lot of girls working their butts off to get here next year!"