“Creativity isn’t hard to find in Minneapolis,” says Keda Tadesse, “But it is hard to find friends who are leading and organizing these spaces.” Together with Nardos Shibeshi, a Minneapolis club DJ known as DJ Narcos, and Minneapolis-based photographer Awa Mally, Tadesse has taken a major step in building a space for creatives in Minneapolis in founding Reload.it, a collective dedicated to providing space and opportunities to femme creatives in Minneapolis.

Reload.it has been working towards its goal of making a safe space for femme DJs in Minneapolis through weekly DJ workshops held in the Northrup King Building in northeast Minneapolis, in-person artist events, and social media outreach. Their DJ workshops focus on a new weekly topic, ranging from an overview of DJ culture, use of DJ controllers, and opportunities to get familiar with highly coveted and ubiquitous Pioneer CDJ units, which is essential knowledge for any aspiring DJ.  

Friends Mally (whom the author knows personally), Shibeshi, and Tadesse founded Reload.it after figuring out they shared a similar vision of “opening up space to allow femme creatives to share their work and be able to have the opportunity to lead,” according to Tadesse. The three young leaders have been able to get Reload.it off the ground while juggling school and work responsibilities and are proud of the progress they’ve made so far. 

Mally, Shibeshi, and Tadesse have all faced mistreatment as a result of being femmes in the male-dominated music scene of the Twin Cities. They believe that a space for femmes to learn and organize will help assuage this gender discrepancy and make the Minneapolis scene more accessible. “I think the challenge is representation,” Tadesse shared. “Specifically, having more femmes in those spaces. Sometimes garnering support from people who aren't femme is hard. The reason we've had so much support is because it's been easy to connect with other women or femmes who are excited for these spaces because they need them.”  

Mally notes the group’s desire to help push new creatives into the Minneapolis scene, which can become stale due to a lack of new faces. “We can't ignore a whole group of people because you don't want to take the time out to search or get to know ‘those types of people,’” says Mally. “The same artists that we always see cannot be the only artists making stuff. We have to put more effort into finding other people.”  

Shibeshi has also faced gender discrimination first-hand working in nightclubs in Minneapolis. “My biggest struggle is being taken seriously,” says Shibeshi. “I've had a lot of experiences where I'll show up to gigs and I don't get any type of respect until people realize I’m here to work, you know? Feeling safe is also a struggle. Working with other women or friends doesn't necessarily mean that it's a safe space, but most of the time I'm working with a lot of men. I feel like people aren't really professional, you know what I mean?  They try to make it with what it's not.” 

Reload.it’s DJ workshops and supportive network of femme creatives is a step towards a more connected and accessible future for rising femme DJs in the Twin Cities. The collective’s latest workshop was a Wednesday night deep dive into the intricacies of DJing with a controller, a small, portable set of turntables that is the go-to set up for many beginner DJs. Each week, a guest Minneapolis DJ comes in to share their knowledge and meet the class. This week’s instructor was Michelle Ndely, who DJs by the name DJ McShellen.  

With a group of students crowded around her DJ controller, Ndely described each knob and button in great detail. Mentioning situations where effects should be used, the importance of loops in DJ transitions, and the all-important high pass/low pass knob. Everyone was there to learn, but there was the feeling of a group of friends sharing stories and experiences. There was laughter, honest questions, and head nodding as the music picked up. The engaged students listened intently, seeming anxious to get their hands on the controller so they could create the same transitions that Ndely did so effortlessly during her tutorial.  

Ndely is excited to help during the Reload.it workshop and says her favorite part of teaching is when students realize they can use the controller on their own and get lost in the music. She believes more women and femme DJs will help everyone have a better time when they go out. “One thing that women focus on that has been lost in the club scene is actual dancing,” says Ndely. “It used to be house parties. You went over there, your friend hit you up on the pager, and you're going to a party to dance. It wasn’t about being on your phone, it's not about flexing, it's not about being on Snapchat or Instagram showing that you're having fun. It's about actually having fun. It's not about being in a booth, it's about being on the dance floor.”  

Ndely believes that more femme DJs will help everyone have a good time. “I feel like female DJs will add a different type of vibe to the club scene to make it like actually fun...  I want to get back to parties and clubs being fun with the focus of dancing. I feel like women will bring that to the scene because we know how to focus on those types of different aspects of the scene.” 

Students at Wednesday night’s workshop shared the sentiments of the organizers, and are glad that Reload.it exists as a space for them to grow. One student named Issa says she was inspired by DJ Narcos. “I found out it through Nardos,” says Issa. “I noticed that she started DJing. I started seeing her taking over these events and I'm like, wow, she's actually really killing this sh**. There aren’t that many female DJs in the city, it's really male-dominated, it's really recycled. They’re not giving the opportunity to other people. I realized we need more of that, more women because it's not a male thing, anybody can do this.” 

 Jiggy, another student in attendance, feels the same and appreciates Reload.it’s friendly, supportive atmosphere. “My favorite part of the workshops is when I accidentally make a good transition, and then all of everybody hypes me up about it. It's really nice to be like affirmed.” 

Reload.it’s leadership is proud of what they’ve done so far and is looking forward to more workshops and events in the future. Sharing an idea with a group and turning the idea into a tangible event is not easy, but their desire for a safe space and the enthusiasm of attendees has kept them going. Tadesse says the challenges they’ve faced make it more rewarding when good things happen. “With the first free event we had the fact that it ended up so successful and people were so happy with it, even though we did it in two weeks was unreal,” says Tadesse. Shibeshi agrees, saying “Seeing how happy people are and feeling safe and comfortable in a space that we literally curated. That to me is successful.” 

“When I think about Reload.it, I think of it as a dream factory,” says Mally. “We don't have anything other than the desire to do stuff. That's the basis of it. We want to do stuff and create space for other people. So, there’s a lot to expect. Anything like anything could be next.” 

Support Reload.it by visiting their GoFundMe page.