Kate Emily Yeadaker has never fancied herself to be a superhero, though her daily routine often requires a costume change.

Nor does she have a split personality. As a veteran nurse, Yeadaker insists she'd recognize the symptoms.

But many weekdays, when 7:30 p.m. rolls around, Yeadaker rushes home from her job at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, strips off her uniform -- green scrubs and a hair net -- and quickly dons another.

When she emerges from her North Beach apartment in high heels and a form-fitting dress, she is no longer Kate Yeadaker, RN.

She is DJ Dharma, the Night Nurse.

At least a couple times a week you can find DJ Dharma spinning records at local night spots, laying down such a thick layer of love, peace and soul Don Cornelius would be proud. Her sets are a stew of reggae, old-school hip-hop, disco, R&B, jazz and Brazilian ``funky,'' which is a combination of traditional Brazilian music played over heavy dance beats.

``Music has always been my passion. I love it all,'' says the 30-year-old Yeadaker. ``Like a lot of people I've always had dreams of being a DJ. And it's happened for me.''

She's equally devoted to her job as a nurse at Jackson's Ryder Trauma Center, where she tends to everything from open fractures to gunshot wounds and assists in surgeries. Which raises a fair question: How does Yeadaker reconcile her two passions?

``I think being a DJ helps me better connect with people,'' she says. ``And that's something that can only help me be a better nurse.''

HIPPIE PARENTS

Yeadaker, who was born and raised in North Miami, traces her nurturing nature and musical aptitude to her parents. She says her father Earl, a native of Puerto Rico, and mother Stephanie, who is from New York by way of Estonia, were ``hippies'' who were passionate about both music and kindness.

``The constant theme of our household was just to be kind and be compassionate to everything and everyone,'' she says.

Her parents were also musicians. ``Our house was all about music, all sorts of music, but definitely a lot of jazz,'' she says.

To this day, she says, Earl and Stephanie keep a virtual orchestra in their bedroom of timbale and conga drums, a guitar, a cello and a piano.

As a student at North Miami Beach High School, Yeadaker began to stretch her musical wings by performing on (and choreographing for) the dance team, playing piano, and exploring different genres. But as common as those activities were, her love of music was still deeper than most of her peers, she felt.

``Some memorized lyrics, some just thrived on the beats, but not a lot of us felt the music in our souls and got into it in a spiritual way,'' Yeadaker says. ``I did that.''

By the time she graduated high school in 1997, Yeadaker had decided to devote her life to nursing. ``It fit how I had been raised, to do something helpful and useful.''

Musically, her passion for reggae, old-school hip-hop and music from Latin America grew deeper, and by the time she entered Florida International University's School of Nursing she was ready to share her taste in tunes with more than her family.

It started on a small scale, with mix tapes made for friends. ``She was the campus music girl,'' says longtime friend Ana Wagner. ``She was so sweet. She cared so much about her music.''

Within a couple years, Yeadaker had bought turntables and a mixing board and started performing -- though for small, safe audiences. Wagner recalls that after group nights out, it became a ritual for friends to return to Yeadaker's apartment to listen to her spin records.

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