about khariszma
khariszma is the music project of Brittany Heit, an Oakland, California-based passionate fan-turned-respected community leader and unofficial gold star member of the underground bass music scene. She is the powerhouse behind CouchFam and CouchFest: the legendary 48 hour long fundraiser stream that raised over $9,000 in donations for artists affected by the pandemic, and the founder of Bay Area Bass Scene- the central online community group for all things bass music-related in Northern California.
Utilizing the social leverage earned by CouchFest’s success, she uses CouchFam as a platform to lift up smaller, lesser-known artists and, through streaming, provide a way for people to be able to experience and enjoy bass music and art at home, making it accessible to everyone. In 2021 she launched a guestmix series called Mixtape Monday that continued CouchFest’s groundbreaking tradition of pairing DJs with VJs for a fully immersive audio/visual experience, and has featured over 200 DJs, producers and visual artists. She’s worked with respected names such as Deep, Dark and Dangerous, Heavy Traffic Recordings, The Untz Festival, BreaksFM, Silent Motion Records, Manuka Records, Producer Dojo, DeepEnd! Movement and more, long before she started DJing.
An avid music collector and curator, Brittany earned a respectful following through her meticulously curated playlists on Soundcloud and Spotify. Growing weary of a world overflowing with noisy, aggressive party anthems and jarring experimental rhythms, she spent years honing in on a specific style of sound- deep, dark, techy and soulful with rolling basslines and haunting melodies that made you feel things that span the genres of drum and bass, jungle, dubstep, halftime, breaks and garage.
Hearing that music on a dance floor brought forth joy from the deepest wells of her soul unlike anything she’d ever experienced in life. She was hooked- this was it. These sounds became an obsession of passion- driving her deep into obscure corners of indie labels and researching the histories and origins of the sounds. She felt so passionately about this style of music that one day she decided she wanted to play it for people. And when she finally dove in, she fell in love with the artistry of DJ culture.
And thus, khariszma was born.
“The construction of a DJ set is an art form not dissimilar to the painting of a picture- except instead of paint there is sound, and instead of a canvas there is a dancefloor. To be moved by music is a religious experience and the DJ stands in the pulpit.”
In her free time, khariszma is a career UX designer with a master’s degree in Business/Branding with a specialty in Experience Design from the VCU Brandcenter in Richmond, Virginia. Experience Design encompasses UX, UI, information architecture and experiential design which is interactive type stuff, like what you would see at Meow Wolf. A designer through and through, she is responsible for all khariszma-related art (including the logo and this very website) and believes DJing to be another style of design.
Curious to know more? Check out her professional portfolio.