The music is thumping at the 40/40 Club as DJ Amanda Blaze scans the room and puts on her headphones behind the confines of her booth. While putting her setlist of hip-hop dance tunes in motion, the Bed-Stuy resident smiles as revelers pour into the main room of the glossy Gramercy hot spot.
It's a common scene from parties during the busy holiday season, which is a ripe time for female DJs — an anomaly in a male-driven industry — to get gigs and make a name for themselves.
More often than not, when music lovers hit the dance floor at popular night clubs, the person behind the booth is male. This is all the more evident by scanning DJ Magazine's annual list of Top 100 DJs: Scroll down the registry, and there is noticeably something absent — women. (Well, there was one: Hong Kong-based DJ Tenashar, who clocked in at No. 87.)
It's an uphill battle for the few women who truly want to make it behind the turntables and successfully integrate the male-dominated industry. In a mission to erase the assumption that men know more about music and technical equipment, female DJs have to hustle and take every gig they can get.
Blaze, 30, is the only woman DJ with a residency at the 40/40 Club. She first got bitten by the bug when DJ Funkmaster Flex visited her college, Penn State University in Pennsylvania. Still, she wishes she had a female mentor.
"The biggest challenge is [finding] a support system," she says. "It's hard for women. We're paving the way, because there are not a lot of us to look up to."
DJ Quiana Parks knows the benefits of having a woman in her corner. Her career received a boost when she landed an assistantship in May with the renowned DJ Kiss, who has spun for celebs like Sean "Diddy" Combs and Chelsea Clinton. Now the resident opener at the weekly "Baby I'm a Star" bash at Mister H in Soho, Parks entertains celebs like Pharrell and Estelle.
She says she finds DJ Magazine's list disheartening, but not shocking.
"There are so many female DJs that are doing their thing," says the 27-year-old. "It just goes to show you we are not where we need to be."
Still working to become a household name, Parks is a graphic designer by day and moonlights on the party scene by night. She hates to admit it, but the statuesque spinner says she experiences better luck booking gigs if she has a male promoter by her side.
"If I have a guy with me that's a promoter, I can usually get the gig," she says. "Sometimes they'll hire you because you're a pretty face — but you'll only get paid half of what a man makes."
The pay discrepancies are part of the reason why the holiday season is such a promising time for lady DJs, such as Blaze, who spins at a number of corporate company holiday parties. Still, there are drawbacks: Working twice as hard often calls for her to sacrifice migrating home for the season.
"My family is from Cleveland, Ohio, and we usually have to make arrangements every year," she says. "This year they are coming here, because I don't have the luxury of taking off."
Brooklyn's DJ Olivia Dope knows the bittersweet agony of working during the holidays. A regular at doorman spots like the Raven and GoldBar, she has to pry herself away from her 5-year-old daughter, Ava every New Year's Eve.
"This is what I love to do, so I have to take it for what it is," Olivia says. "It's hard on New Year's Eve. I'm a mom, so I would much rather be at home ringing in the New Year with my daughter."
The industry comes with ups and downs, but female DJs know it is ultimately about leveraging the platform to segue into other careers later on in life.
Blaze wants to bump her residency to five days a week and landing a spot on FM radio, but in the long run she wants to help promote other artists.
"I may jump into management because I know the ins and outs so well," she says. "I want to be on FM radio because there are no female DJs."
Parks, meanwhile, is focused on applying the lessons learned from DJ Kiss to take her around the world. "DJ Kiss always told me to be myself, to have fun and to never let anyone step over you."
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