The headline performance at Djakarta Warehouse Project’s main stage in 2024 throbbed with the pull of a global headliner. On a smaller stage across the grounds, Ashley Ler (SMU Bachelor of Business Management, 2020) — known professionally as Kiara — stepped up to her console and prepared for a modest turnout. Performing at the same time was a DJ with a huge international following. She did not expect much of the crowd to choose her stage instead.
“When I first got on stage, the crowd was only about half full,” she recalls. “I was honestly afraid that nobody would show up.”
Midway through her set, the dynamic changed. There was congestion at the entrance. Then more people streamed in. “People started flooding into the arena.”
“That moment was transformative because I felt seen,” she says. “I felt like people were giving a smaller artist like me a real chance to prove myself — and that meant everything.”
Finding footing before making a pivot
It is not common to see a student enrolled in SMU’s Bachelor of Business Management programme build a full-time career as a professional DJ. Kiara began university with a conventional goal: banking. It was structured, stable and familiar.
Her entry into DJ culture began almost casually. She joined Stereometa, SMU’s DJ collective, in 2022 largely to expand her social circle. “The DJ industry in Singapore is small and tight knit, everyone knows everyone. Through Stereometa, I found a community that genuinely supported one another. It felt like family.”
Music had always been part of her life. “I was a pianist from the age of five, but I had to give it up during O Levels and A Levels.” University brought it back in a different form. “Joining Stereometa at SMU gave me the opportunity to reconnect with music again, in a completely different way. It felt like rediscovering a part of myself that I had put aside.”
The decisive moment came outside the classroom.
“When I got hired at Cherry for the first time by the seniors in Stereometa, that was the turning point,” she says, referring to her debut at Cherry Discotheque. “Standing in front of a real club crowd and being fully responsible for the music and the vibe of the room felt surreal.”
That night clarified the stakes. “In that moment, I realised I wasn’t just playing songs. I was shaping the energy, controlling emotions, and creating an experience.” The memory remains vivid. “The joy and adrenaline I felt made it clear that this was more than just a hobby. It was something I wanted to take seriously.”
Taking it seriously meant confronting risk.
“It really felt like a choice between security and passion,” she says. “Banking was the safer, more predictable route. DJing was my dream, but it was uncertain.”
During an exchange semester in France, she began uploading mashups to TikTok. What started as creative experimentation quickly gathered traction, gaining 100,00 views and increasing her followers from 8,000 to 15,000. Today, she has over 450,000 followers.
“When my TikTok mashups went viral, I was actually on exchange in France,” she says. “At that point, it felt exciting, but it hasn’t fully sunk in yet.”
The shift became real when online attention translated into physical audiences. “The real turning point was when Singaporeans studying in the UK started flying me over during their break weekends to DJ. That’s when I realised people weren’t just watching my content — they were willing to show up in real life.”
“That was when I knew I wanted to think beyond Singapore and take this internationally.”
Applying lessons from SMU
Sustaining momentum required more than creative instinct. “Over the past two years, I’ve worked closely with marketing teams, brands, and PR agencies,” she says. “Just being part of those conversations taught me so much.”
She came to understand that artistry alone was not enough. “I realised that today, being an artist isn’t just about making good music. You have to understand branding and storytelling. Your brand is an extension of who you are. People want to connect with your journey, your personality, and your values — not just the final product.”
Her approach to content reflects that awareness. “I wouldn’t say my content is heavily narrative-driven, but it is very intentional,” she explains. “It’s not about randomly picking two songs and putting them together. It’s about understanding why those two songs should exist in the same space, whether it’s rhythm, emotion, culture, or contrast.”
Creative instinct is balanced with audience awareness. “There’s always a balance between what I personally enjoy and what my audience responds to. From concept to publish, I’m constantly asking myself: does this feel authentic to me, and will it resonate with the people watching?”
Her business training proved unexpectedly practical.
Studying business and finance at SMU helped me in ways I didn’t expect. It helped me understand budgeting for equipment, managing invoices, negotiating contracts, and tracking revenue properly."
Kiara
It also sharpened her confidence in professional settings. “Beyond numbers, it also strengthened my communication skills — presenting ideas to my label, sitting in meetings with brands, and networking with clients confidently. It made me realise that creativity and business go hand in hand.”
One exchange with a professor left a lasting impression. She recalls telling a finance professor privately that she intended to pursue music seriously. “He didn’t judge me; he didn’t neglect me as a student. Instead, he asked me to tell him when my next show was because he wanted to come down to support.”
“That moment showed me that even within an academic environment, there is room for art,” she says. “It also gave me the confidence to convince my parents to support me on this journey.”
The path has not been without scrutiny, with discriminatory comments being passed, crediting her success to factors other than her skill at her craft. “Yes, I’ve been told that I was hired ‘because I’m a girl,’” she says. “Hearing that initially made me question myself and my skill set.”
Her response has been consistent performance. “Over time, I realised that the only way to respond is through consistency and performance. I focus on letting the music speak louder than anything else — not my looks, not what I wear, not stereotypes. The best way to prove yourself is to deliver every single time you step on stage.”
As she prepares to release her first original single, she is moving beyond reinterpretation. “With mashups and DJ sets, I’m interpreting other people’s music. With an original single, I get to express something that is fully mine.”
The themes are personal. “The story is about self-expression, being unapologetically yourself, female empowerment, and the beauty of love. It’s more vulnerable and personal, something I can’t fully communicate just by remixing or blending tracks.”
The pace of the industry can be relentless. She manages it deliberately. “I remind myself to stay humble,” she says. “I reflect often, schedule rest days, and make space to reset creatively.”
When uncertainty surfaces, she returns to first principles. “Staying grounded in why I started — my love for music keeps me centred.”
Kiara’s career did not unfold by accident. It has been built step by step: from student collective to nightclub residency; from online mashups to regional festival stages; from interpreting tracks to producing her own. The business student who once planned for banking did not abandon structure — she applied it differently, translating discipline into rhythm, contracts into creative independence, and risk into momentum.
The SMU Edge
Kiara’s journey might not be the typical classroom to corporate professional story, but her time at SMU enriched her in ways that now enable her to etch out a living while pursuing her passion.
- Rich in extra-curricular experiences
Outside of the classroom, SMU has a wealth of student clubs, such as Stereometa, SMU’s DJ collective, which gives students such as Kiara a chance to pursue their interests. - Teachings grounded in the real-world
SMU’s emphasis of ensuring lessons can be applied to the real world means that the knowledge gained as a student can stay relevant across contexts, even for alumni like Kiara who pursued a different path after graduation. - A pedagogy that hones communication skills
With SMU’s seminar style classrooms, students are given plenty of opportunities to speak up and share ideas – which Kiara shares helps her stay confident talking to brands and clients in professional settings.
