She’s young, beautiful, talented and has about 600 CDs in her music collection. When the clock strikes 2 a.m. and everyone else is in bed, this talented woman is entertaining crowds, but she is not singing or playing the guitar. We’re talking about DJ Bitsy, one of only two female DJs in Bermuda.

Currently putting the spin on things at Splash night-club in Hamilton, DJ Bitsy started her illustrious career at the tender age of ten: “I used to hook my dad’s stereo up with mine, spent my allowance on a Gemini mixer and would mix back and forth between the stereos.”

In 1989 she found herself working as a bartender at Oasis (now Ozone), where she asked the DJ one night to show her what all the buttons on his equipment did. The next weekend she was deejaying.

“I caught on quite quickly and as long as the crowd is there to have fun and dance, I go with the flow,” she recalls.

She gets her music from Music World and Sound Stage and searches the internet to see what the top clubs are playing and orders some of this music from Amazon.com. DJ Bitsy’s choice in music is house, because in her experience it carries more of a vibe to it.

“You are not going to see fights break out over house music, while some of the rap songs get people excited in the wrong way,” she adds. “It only takes one idiot.”

DJ Bitsy points out that in the last year there have been a few incidents in which young men started fights in night-clubs and how she wished they would take their “issues” outside instead of ruining the evening for everyone.

A large part of being a good DJ entails “reading the crowd”, DJ Bitsy says. And it all comes down to paying attention: “Every week is different and you have to see who reacts to what type of music. You can’t plan a set in the night-club industry, you just have to go with the flow.”

She elaborates: “One night the crowd might like reggae music and the next they want soca.

“You just never know. You play a little bit of everything and see how they react and go from there.”

You also have to know your music and the 25-year-old makes sure to keep up with the changing trends: “Reggae and R&B has become more mainstream in the last three years which is really good. It’s played on the radio a lot in the States, while before you had to put on Power 95 to hear it. Now it’s really mainstream.”

As for the older crowd, DJ Bitsy jokingly says she adds a little ABBA or Blondie into her mix every so often to accommodate everybody in the club.

With the industry constantly evolving, an annual music conference takes place in either Miami or Las Vegas to introduce new technology to DJs.

“They’re coming out with a mixer that you can plug your iPod into so you don’t have to carry your CDs around with you,” she avers, adding that it does become rather expensive trying to keep up with some of these changes.

Most night-clubs do not carry any of the expense of buying new equipment or music, but DJ Bitsy admits she likes to stay on the top of her game, so when it comes to spending a lot of money on music she’ll do it: “If I don’t buy new music I risk losing my reputation as a good DJ.”

When asked if she ever considered working on the radio, she explains that nothing gives her greater joy than deejaying live: “I thrive off of people’s energy so if I can’t see the crowd or feel their energy, I don’t have fun and don’t enjoy it. My biggest enjoyment comes when I cut out the song and I hear them sing the rest of the lyrics... that makes my job worthwhile.”

DJ Bitsy believes in following dreams and her advice to any youngsters interested in the industry is to start now. She admits that young girls approach her all the time wanting to learn. “But most of the time the girls don’t follow through,” she adds.

What do you need to be a good DJ? DJ Bitsy describes it as a job for someone who is creative, loves music, is not afraid to talk to crowds and wants some free time during the day to do something else.

She currently works a five-hour shift from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. every night of the week during the summer and Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights during the winter.

If you are ever at a party, and DJ Bitsy’s on the tables, remember her motto: “Music feeds the soul, embrace it and dance.”