DJ Carisma: Santa Ana's Hometown Heroine
When it comes to spinning hip-hop on the ones and twos, DJ Carisma is the sole woman you'll find on the FM dial in Los Angeles. Her distinctive platform on Power 106 didn't come easy. Deejaying, as with other elements of the culture, is all too often a man's world. 
Lalo the Giant DJ Carisma
Carisma, who grew up all over Orange County, finally landed in Santa Ana, whose only notable claim on rap radio comes courtesy of a verse in Warren G's "This DJ." While an unlikely launching pad for a girl with DJ dreams, the city influenced Carisma's eclectic take in her mixes. "My dad was always into blues, jazz and classic rock," Carisma says. "My mom was always into her Christian and Hawaiian music. . . . Everyone listened to everything in my family except for hip-hop."
It was through an older friend that Carisma got into rap music in elementary school, listening to the likes of Kris Kross, Da Brat, Tupac and Biggie. Later, as a student at Santiago High School, she got turned on to turntables. "Me being a girl, I'd always see the boys doing it, and they'd never let me. I had to save up my money and get my own set."
Carisma saved her cash for weekend trips to a now-shuttered Civic Center Drive record store. "Ghetto Records is the first record store I ever went to," she says.
Word of Life Church let her perform at youth events where she honed her skills. Word spread quickly about her turntable talents, leading to gigs at house parties and quinceañeras. "I used to DJ on upside-down trash cans back in the day," Carisma says. "Whatever I could fit my equipment on, put my speakers up and do my thing, I was doing it, paying dues!"
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