SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Jasmine Coan has been working the turntables for nearly eight years.
“It was something that I saw DJ’s doing and I just fell in love with it,” Coan said.
She went to Le Moyne College to study accounting because she loves math, but an opportunity eventually came up for her to pursue her other passion.
“I went to Scratch DJ Academy in New York City,” Coan said. “It was a year program. I graduated and as soon as I graduated, I’ve just been taking gigs from there up until now.”
Many know her as DJ Bella J. She’s the official DJ for Destiny USA and the SU Women’s Basketball Team. When she was getting her start there were not a lot of other female DJs.
“Being able to find my style as a female was harder to do because I didn’t have that many examples around me that I felt I related to,” Coan added, “So that’s why I wanted to do this.”
This is On The One, her very own DJ center at Destiny USA. It uses a concept of DJing as the name, “Dropping a song on the one, the first beat,” she explained.
It is a place for DJs and for those who don’t have any experience at all.
The main mission of On The One is to encourage and empower young girls to express their creativity through DJing.
“I started maybe 28, 29-years-old,” she said, “If we have young girls doing this younger, they can go further than me and doing more than what I am doing.”
That’s pretty far because what she’s doing has already inspired so many.
On The One is located on the second level of Destiny USA near Macy’s. If you stop by you’ll notice a mural paying tribute to legendary DJs. It was painted by Coan’s daughter Nyla.
To learn more you can visit the center’s website.
