By Humberto Guida, Photographs: Sante D'Orazio

ky Nellor emerges from Studio 11 on the NBC lot in Burbank, where Ellen DeGeneres shoots her talk show, parting the sea of stares in the hallway with her tall and tanned frame as she walks over to me, waving one hand in the air and offering a wholehearted "Hello!" Nellor is absolutely stunning, her eyes a deep bluish-green, her wavy hair flowing. Her charm has little to do with her physical beauty, though, and more with her effervescent personality. "Here I am, here I am," Nellor, not more than five feet in front of me, exclaims with a girlish vivacity. I'm smiling from ear to ear as soon as I meet her, almost giggling, and so is she. Off the bat, it's obvious Nellor has every excuse to be the ultradiva, but the model-turned-DJ prefers her down-to-earth-while-drop-dead-gorgeous routine. She has too much fun to take herself that seriously.

The first thing I ask is if she's always this joyously perky. "If I've gotten my sleep and you've fed me, I'm okay," Nellor explains coyly. Still, these days, as one of the hottest spinners in the country, it's a wonder she gets any sleep at all. No other female DJ is more in demand, and her monthly residency at Pure at Caesars Palace is already a must soiree for Vegas party people, including Kanye West. Today she's in L.A. as a guest DJ on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, getting the perky host to shake her derrière onstage with a mix of Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" and Lenny Kravitz. Ellen does a rain dance, which Nellor believes may have turned this June Gloom day into a sunny afternoon. "Ellen is supernatural. I love her. I have Ellen everything. She even gave me Ellen underwear."

Earlier, when Nellor arrived at the greenroom, she was approached by a production assistant who asked if she was "with the DJ." Nellor had to explain to the P.A that she wasin fact the DJ. But it's a situation she deals with frequently. "Let's do an assessment: 99 percent of the DJs in the world are men. It's like driving a truck—you don't think a lot of girls can drive trucks, but they can."

Of course, she's a ballbuster of sorts and tends to mess with anyone who doubts her skills on deck. "The first time I went to Pure, last year, they wanted me to do an after-party for the World Music Awards. But they hired me based on my looks and name, because at the dinner before the party they kept asking me if I could really play. They had hired female DJs before who really couldn't spin. So I was like, ‘Oh, you mean play a record and wait till it finishes and then play another one?' They freaked. So I told them, ‘Listen, I can play.' Within six songs, they were like this." She drops her jaw to mimic the awe of others ...

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