On a Friday night last November, Sherelle Thomas and her 6 Figure Gang companions hosted DJ Storm and Sicaria Sound for a bass-laden night at Electric Brixton in South London. It was a Boiler Room collaboration and Thomas, master of ceremonies, could be seen standing behind each DJ in turn, sipping on a large bottle of sparkling wine and surveying the scene. At around 1 AM it was her turn to play. She bigged up all those that had gone before and introduced herself. "For those of you that don't know, I'm Sherelle," she said. The crowd response was raucous. "And for those of you that do, I'm Sherelle." A wave of boisterous energy shot through the air as Thomas put down the mic and moved to the centre of the stage. All eyes were glued to her. She ramped up the crowd with a battle-cry set, meeting every big drop with a defiant fist pump and calling on the dance floor to bring more energy.

I met Thomas in Oxford Street the day before that party, weaving through some backstreets to her favourite Dim Sum restaurant in Soho. We hung out for an hour or so, and spoke about what life has been like after that Boiler Room set last year. Since the film went viral she has played all over the world, become a resident at BBC Radio 1 and started the Hooversound record label with Naina. After our lunch she was off to a meeting to sign a distribution deal before preparing for the Electric Brixton gig. It was the end of a breakthrough year for a DJ who's been grafting for ages. It was clear throughout our meal that she was still taking it all in.

Thomas was born and raised in Walthamstow, East London. She remembers riding in the car with her uncle while jungle was playing on a pirate radio station. "My uncle would pretend to be one of the MCs," she said. "I remember thinking this music was really cool, but I didn't know what it was." Hearing Omni Trio's "Renegade Snares" at a young age, and then again years later on Grand Theft Auto, sparked a downloading spree of jungle compilations. But it was a mix by Machinedrum in 2012 that would prove to be a game-changer, introducing Thomas to footwork. "That was a mind-blowing moment because I'd never heard footwork before," she said.

It was a few years later, while working at Shazam—and facing redundancy—that Thomas was able to name the sound she first heard in the Machinedrum mix. "I was skiving off, watching Boiler Room sets and DJ Rashad was suggested as the next video. I thought, 'This is fast but it's sick. I'm gonna listen to it.' Five minutes in, "Brighter Dayz" comes on and I had this epiphany. Everything I'm doing just stops. I'm like, what the fuck? I had to keep my composure." Thomas replayed that part of the set over and over. "I was spun, I learned so much. For a start I had been listening to Scratcha DVA and Kode9 for years and I didn't even know they were into footwork!"

Footwork blew up on the South and West sides of Chicago in the late '90s and was originally made to fuel dance battles. Thomas, who has now been championing the artform for years, took me through the intricacies of the genre at the restaurant's dimly lit table. "A lot of people would describe it as frenzied, but it's very controlled" she said. "The productions are so tight. If you can produce footwork you can probably produce anything. Jlin, everything about her work is very controlled. The dancing however is really freeform."

Thomas cites RP Boo, DJ Spinn and the late DJ Rashad as key influences. She has become something of a UK torchbearer for the genre. The high-tempo, polyrhythmic and battle-ready elements of footwork defy easy listening; many tracks have the uncanny double-time quality of being both fast and slow. It's this intricate layering of sound that stood out to Thomas when she first heard it. "It's the way the tracks land and the feeling I get," she said. "There are many layers to it. It can be pure, it can be aggressive, or soft. Footwork keeps me on my toes all the time."

The Rashad DJ set sparked another downloading spree—a little dangerous, she admits, given her upcoming redundancy. "I had no money to be downloading this amount of music, but here I was, purchase purchase purchase!" Thomas had a regular slot on the Reprezent radio station and had been playing a lot of Chicago house. "I thought, fuck this, I'm gonna do a footwork and juke show. Why is no one playing this?"

At first, she didn't get much of a response. "When I was talking about footwork, I was so gassed but I'd sometimes be met with blank stares." One person advised Thomas to let go of the idea all together. "They said, 'Why are you playing this music? It's not going anywhere. The biggest person who was popping it has died. If it was gonna be big, the time has probably passed.' It pissed me off at the time, but I'm realistic. I'm championing something that is very niche."

A couple of years on, Thomas had found a faithful circle. Collaborations with FAUZIA and Hooversound cofounder Naina gave her inspiration to continue, but around the beginning of 2019 she still was thinking of giving up DJing. "Roll on February and I get a call to do Boiler Room," she said. "I said to Naina, 'I've been called up to do Boiler Room but I don't think I'm gonna do it. I don't think I'm ready.'" Gentle cajoling from her inner circle convinced Thomas to go for it, "so I put a set together, practiced everyday, working on certain blends so that on the day when I got there, I had a few different routes to go down."

Thomas lit up the crowd around the four-minute mark with "Brighter Dayz" but it was Fixate's re-work of "Ripgroove" that sent the crowd—and internet—into a frenzy. Cameras shook, gun fingers filled the air and what must have been the fourth or fifth pull-up was followed by the roar of the crowd. It was the most exciting Boiler Room set in years. Thomas had swagger and poise behind the decks, even when things got a little awkward. This is a DJ that knows how to harness the energy of her audience.

For Thomas, the moment went by in a flash. "My hands were shaking but I had a lot of fun. Everyone was so gassed." It was a call from her boss the next day that brought the viral news. "I woke up the next morning, hungover and late for work and I got a call from my manager. He said, 'Don't worry, take your time. By the way, your video is on 50K. It got posted ten minutes ago.'"

Thomas' Instagram following went from 1,000 to 5,000 over night—it currently stands at just over 22K. It was a similar story with Twitter. The Black Madonna, Skream and Special Request started following her. "I'm going through my Twitter followers and seeing that these big DJs I love, that I've paid to see and I've been following, are following me back. I was blown away, having random conversations with Special Request on Twitter, like what the fuck is that?" A week later, the attention was becoming overwhelming. "I was bawling my eyes out, it was just too much. I had to turn off my notifications. I was slammed with messages—of support by the way, nothing negative—and I had to get a new phone because the old one couldn't cope."

International bookings came in fast: Berlin, Ibiza, the US, Canada, Frank Ocean's inaugural PrEP party. Everyone wanted to book Sherelle. By May, Thomas had handed in her notice and was flying across the world to play for a newfound global audience. To top it off, the BBC called in July and confirmed her residency in September, days before her 26th birthday. "I was in Pret at the time and I didn't know what to say," she said. "I called my girlfriend but kept it very quiet. I'm still shocked."

Throughout our meal, Thomas spent a lot of time championing her peers and emphasising the contributions of others. "Boiler Room has had a plethora of amazing black women coming through, doing the most. OK Williams was ridiculous. Sippin T, ridiculous. It's a joke. Shy One has been doing this for years and deserves all the respect she gets."

As much as she's loving the work, Thomas is anxious to ensure that 2020 feels less hectic. We get talking about the solitary nature of the work, and the accompanying fatigue. All the good stuff aside, what keeps her going? Thomas gives a long pause before answering. "As a black, gay woman, it's nice to be in a position where people really trust you. I know what I have to do and there are people seeing themselves in me and being inspired. I need to pass on that good energy."