A crowded room is a living thing. It changes its mind. It gets bored. It wants something different before it knows what that something is. Ayla Simone has built a career knowing what to play next.

The San Diego–based DJ started in radio, surrounded by people who knew their way around a pair of turntables. She paid attention. Then she got behind the decks herself.

What followed was a career built in nightclubs, resorts, casinos, corporate events, and packed rooms across Southern California and beyond. Her résumé includes residencies at venues such as OMNIA San Diego, the W Hotel, Hard Rock properties, Viejas Casino, and Grand Sierra Resort, along with performances from Los Angeles and Las Vegas to Miami, New York, Canada, and Europe.

Ayla is an open-format DJ in the truest sense. House, hip-hop, EDM, pop, throwbacks, deep house—genre loyalty takes a back seat to the room. Her background as a singer gives her an instinct for melody, phrasing, and transitions, but the real skill is simpler: she watches people.

Along the way, she has shared stages and bills with artists including T.I., Cypress Hill, Nelly, Juicy J, Benny Benassi, Gareth Emery, Paul Oakenfold, Morgan Page, Fedde Le Grand, and Paul van Dyk, while earning recognition from Billboard and Riviera Magazine.

But names on a résumé don’t keep a dance floor moving.

Ayla does.

She knows when to push, when to pull back, when to abandon the obvious choice, and when one perfectly timed record can turn a room full of people into a party.