Janette Slack lives the dream doing what she loves, DJing and making music

From the comfort of the dance floor, the art of DJing looks easy enough: a press of a button here, a turn of a knob there. But anyone who has attempted the life knows it isn't that simple.

Janette Slack is one of many Hong Kong-born, internationally educated youngsters who have tried their hand at DJing. But unlike most, she was able to turn her deck-filled dreams into a successful global career. In the decade or so since she left our shores for London's underground music scene, Slack has racked up the accolades: she was named a "future hero" by industry publication Mixmag; won the 2010 Pink Armada European female DJ competition; and secured a nomination for "best breakthrough DJ" at the International Breakbeat Awards. And now, she's about to release her first full album, titled Torture Garden Session.

Slack has an impressive disc jockey CV, but she didn't enter the industry to chase awards or to look cool. She was obsessed with music long before turntables caught her fancy, and as a dance-obsessed youth, she made her first stage appearance at the age of 10.

"I had a passion for music from a very young age, and really loved choreographing dance steps to songs," she says. "I auditioned to dance for [Canto-pop singer] Sandy Lam Yik-lin for her 1991 concert and got the part. It was such an adrenaline rush performing at the Coliseum for 10 shows in a row, and I knew I wanted to get into something that involved music."

But not until she attended university in London and surrounded herself with like-minded souls did music become a career option. "A lot of friends who were making music invited me to their studios and fed my curiosity about how tracks were produced and remixed," says Slack.

"The love of just DJing wasn't satisfying me enough, so I really wanted to know how tunes were recorded and put together. I felt I was being annoying always asking questions about equipment and theory, so I thought doing a course would benefit me."