East London-based Arthi Nachiappan is a busy woman. So busy that she raises suspicion of owning a time machine in order to get it all done. By day, she works as economics correspondent for The Times newspaper, and by night, swaps deadlines for dancehall, reggaeton and afrobeats as a sought after DJ and radio host.
Born in Chennai, India to Tamil parents before moving to the UK aged two, Nachiappan’s love for both dance and writing grew with her. When she was old enough, she left Nottingham for Warwick university to study philosophy politics and economics, before eventually moving to London to pursue journalism. Outside of writing, it was training as a dancer that sparked her interest in DJing just under a decade ago: “dance was always my first love, I’ve done it since childhood. I was doing some choreography for a dance competition and I came across the mix that we were using. I got really interested in how it was put together” she tells me.
