Lauren Harkrader

"A modern day alchemist, DJ Chela mixes movements, communities and evolutionary patterns together like records. From a prolific DJ career traveling the world and working with luminaries, to dedicated spiritual and healing studies, to a breadth of artistic projects and ceremonial performances, Chela weaves together lineages of expression to inspire her audiences and engage their spirits. Her live sets are a dynamic mixture of Latin, African and Caribbean rhythms, Hip Hop, funk, soul, disco, house and more mixed with a turntablist sensibility. She is a Next Level alumn, an exchange program through the State Department, through which she taught DJing in Senegal. She earned the 2009 Winter Music Conference Spin Off battle runner-up, and placed second in the 2007 She's My DJ Battle. Her mixtapes of the 2000's earned her three nominations for the Justo's Mixtape Awards. Chela has DJed for Saigon, Pharoahe Monch, J.Alvarez, KRS ONE, Immortal Technique, Mystic, Talib Kweli, Rah Digga and Ladybug Mecca, and has been featured in The Source, Allhiphop.com, Scratch Magazine, Foundation Magazine, MTV.com and telemundo. In 2017 she helped to found ""Freedom Sound DJs,"" a DJ crew to stand for the civil rights of US citizens
most vulnerable during a Trump administration. "