The woman in question comes to the phone. Brown's real name is Angelique Meunier, but there is no identity crisis here. "You can call me whatever you're comfortable with, I'm pretty easy-going!" laughs Brown.

A DJ, singer and dancer, Brown is also a self-confessed ambitious woman, with a powerful sense of possibility. "I've always been extremely ambitious. When I finished high school, a lot of my friends wanted to pursue music or acting but every single one of them has stopped, and I was the only one that kept going and kept dreaming and trying to make it happen for myself. There's no reason why you can't be successful, if you work hard and you're persistent and you're diligent, there's just no excuse as to why you cannot make it."

That combination of persistence and hard work has definitely paid off for Brown. In 2008, she signed to Island Records Australia as a DJ and began releasing her Crave compilation series, resulting in support slots for artists like Britney Spears and The Pussycat Dolls. Brown made her debut as a recording artist in 2011 with the single We Run the Night, which reached No. 5 in the ARIA charts and led to an ARIA award nomination. Through this success she signed a highly prized United States record deal with Universal Republic via RedOne's label 2101 Records.

"I've just always known that I wanted to do something different," says Brown. "No one in my family or extended family would even dream of doing it because it's just too impossible. And I had that mentality too, like it's too hard, it doesn't happen, it only happens for a rare few. But as I got older and you have the choice whether you go to university and you start studying something else or you continue doing what you're passionate about, it was very simple for me. It was very difficult for me to give up something that I just loved doing on a daily basis. And if you can make a career out of it you're laughing really, it's the best."

Growing up, Brown says she envisioned herself in a suit, "walking down Wall Street with a briefcase".

"I don't think I actually knew what that meant to do that, but that vision of that woman, that type of woman that was ambitious, strong, very independent, was always very attractive to me."

When she started out in the industry, Brown says there weren't a lot of female DJs - there still aren't - but Brown also stood out because "I actually love being a female, getting in a dress and wearing my makeup and doing my hair. I think that whenever there's that first of something there's going to be a lot of people that aren't going to be that happy about it and judgmental, and it's also they feel threatened sometimes too."

Brown is excited about playing Summernats in Canberra alongside Bliss n Eso and Illy this January. "I think it's going to be fun. To me, music goes hand in hand when it comes to racing and fast cars. My aim is to get everyone dancing and having a good time!"

HAVANA BROWN

When: Summernats, January 3, 8.30pm

With: Bliss n Eso

Tickets: Available at summernats.com.au