She’s an Air Traffic Controller by Day, Memphis DJ by Night
Ashley Wimbush says the two careers aren’t as different as you’d probably guess. Here’s why.
They say being an air traffic controller is one of the most stressful jobs you can have. You direct large metallic beasts like chess pieces, ensuring they don’t bump heads as they shuttle hundreds, nay, thousands of passengers from point A to point B. You choreograph them for takeoff, and landing, and dictate flight paths. You often work long hours. And if there’s bad weather, well, that’s a whole other thing.
“There are things you can't control when working,” explains Ashley Wimbush, an air traffic controller at MEM, Memphis’s International Airport. “It gets especially stressful when you’ve got bad storm winds—you’ve got to make sure you're following every last rule, to make sure pilots are departing safely and landing safely.”
The sheer scope of Wimbush's purview is especially daunting: When she looks out of the window, she’s responsible for all aircraft within a seven-mile radius. So it makes sense that at the end of the week, when Wimbush steps down from the tower, she is in dire need of some stress relief. While from Tuesday to Friday you can find her in ATC mode at the airport; when the weekend hits, then you’ll find her behind the decks.
Wimbush goes by the name DJ Alpha Whiskey—aviation enthusiasts will recognize those as the call letters for her initials. In Memphis you can catch her spinning tunes at hotels like Central Station or ARRIVE, in Nashville you’ll find her at the 1 Hotel or the new W in The Gulch. Daytime hospitality gigs are more her speed, but if you swing through Central Station on a Thursday, you can find her at Ladies Night, a regular party she co-hosts with DJs Naya and Nico.
On Thursday nights you can also hear Wimbush’s voice on “Flight Risk,” her own radio show on Memphis’s WXPR. She likes to say she controls the crowd and the sky—but while they might seem like disparate endeavors, for her DJing and aviation are very much intertwined. “It balances out,” she says. “Music is my therapy.”
But it’s what she can do with her music career that matters to her the most. “My brand is geared toward educating the youth and underrepresented groups about the many possibilities and careers in aviation,” she explains. “I use this talent as a way to reach the public.” But also, she recently hopped behind the decks spur of the moment on a trip to Mykonos. DJing can bring awareness, but it’s also fun. We spoke with Wimbush about her career in aviation, her second career in music, and how they both took flight.
Thrillist: Which came first, an interest in music, or aviation?
Ashley Wimbush: Technically, the music came first. I loved music as a kid. I used to listen to a bunch of records, and I just loved making CDs. When I went off to college at Hampton University I was deciding on my major and thought about what I liked. And I was like, Oh, well, I like computers, maybe I’ll do computer science. But it wasn't until I got there I realized that wasn't for me, and then I became an aviation major.
I downloaded a lot of music from Limewire and Napster and bought that music to college on my laptop. On the weekends my friends and I would have get-togethers, and I'd be like, Hey guys, I'm gonna be the DJ. And they were like, okay, whatever.
What prompted you to go into aviation?
So Vanita, I met this guy in college who knew ever since he was a young boy that he wanted to be a pilot. He used to beg me all the time to fly with him and finally I gave in. I flew with him, and everything just kind of changed. He set up an appointment for me to meet with the Department of Aviation chairperson, and I ended up switching my major into aviation management and air traffic control.
It was something that I felt like nobody else my family had even done or thought about, and he gave me the tools that I needed. Once I switched my major, that first summer I applied for an internship with the Federal Aviation Administration and I got it. They sent me to Wichita, Kansas—which is known as the aviation capital of the world, all these big aviation companies are out there—and that changed my life even more.
What do you do in an aviation management major?
So in the aviation management major, I took business classes, accounting, business management, marketing and finance class, etc. And also I took aviation law, and classes learning about air traffic. Back then you had to go to a CTI school to be an air traffic controller, or you had to have military experience as an air traffic controller. Now, you just can apply, as long as you have three years of work experience doing something, or a college degree, and they'll take it from there and will train you on the job.
When did you decide you wanted to start DJing as a profession?
I was in Memphis, and I was offered a job in Dubai and Atlanta, one of the busiest towers in the world, but I decided that I want to step out on faith and try being a DJ. And for that, Memphis was the best place for me. I had an identity, because I'm an air traffic controller, and used that to come up with my DJ name. I also wanted to bring more awareness to what I do for the youth and minority groups, because a lot of people don't know what air traffic control is. People still think it's a person that's waving cones, standing out there on the tarmac. So, I wanted to be able to use my talents to spread the word that, hey, you know, you can do both things, and this is what an air traffic controller is.
You went through all of this training as a Black woman. Did you see any others like you when you were doing this?
Very few. In 2020, when Covid hit I was on a conference call, and they released some alarming statistics, because out of 18,000 controllers in the United States, only 245 are Black women. It is a heavy male and white-dominated career field. And a lot of women are very capable of doing this job. It does get depressing at times, because in the tower where I work, I'm the only Black woman. So I asked, are we just not applying or are you just not selecting?
They’re not gonna answer that, but that's why I get out here and I do what I do.
It looks like you do a lot of mentorship.
Over the last 10 years or so, I've been mentoring others who are looking to get into the aviation profession, not just air traffic control, but anything aviation-related. I volunteer with the ACE camp, that's the aviation career education camp that the FAA sponsors every year.
I also partner with other aviation organizations here in Memphis, we call ourselves Team Memphis. We host an event in September called Wings Over the Branch, because we do it at Olive Branch, Mississippi at their airport. We have a special flight school called Luke Weather's Flight Academy that's minority-owned and operated—we get Black kids and marginalized groups, it really doesn't matter, you could be any race, but we really try to focus on getting minorities involved in aviation, whether you want to fly or become a mechanic or engineer or drone pilot. We take anywhere up to 50 kids on free discovery flights. They go up in small Cessna planes, and some of them have never flown before. And every last one of them comes back saying “I want to be a pilot! I wanna fly!”
One of the major barriers to getting into aviation is the cost. Has it gotten better?
You can get scholarships, and now, a lot of the airlines, because they're hurting for pilots, are giving out more scholarships and fellowship programs for students.
How was it getting started with your DJ career?
My first gig was the worst event ever. It was a grand opening for a haircare product. This girl opened up her store, she wanted music and a vibe, and I completely dropped the ball because I had the wrong cables for my DJ board. You know, when you’re willing to do something but you don’t quite know everything? But I didn’t give up. The first couple of events were a little shaky but I kept going and getting better and better.
What is your schedule like these days?
Tuesday through Friday I’m at ATC—I do day shifts now. I'm a morning person so I get up around 5 o'clock. On the weekdays, I might have a gig or two, on Thursday nights, maybe just one for two or three hours, and that's it. And on the weekend, hey, I got time. But I mostly prefer doing brunches and hotels, things that are done earlier in the day. The latest I’ll go is midnight or so.
I guess hotel DJing sort of fits in with your lifestyle better. How did you get into hotels?
I am persistent. I emailed 25,000 times. I called 50,000 times, and then I went up there and face to face 100,000 times. What you put in is what you get out. The first hotel I was able to get in was Central Station Hotel. I sent them a whole mix so they could hear me.
It is difficult though, so I co-founded a social group, the SheDJs, with DJ Crystal Mercedes, who helped me get started. We help other females who are just starting out to find their way—knowing how to do invoices and knowing how to promote yourself and do certain things.
What’s the best part about DJing for you?
I get to meet people who are traveling all over from all over and I realized that doing hotel brunches brings me so much joy. To get people going first thing in the morning with good music, good food, and maybe a mimosa here or there, you’re like oh yeah I’m ready to go get my day started, it’s gonna be a good day.