Return of the Mac: Annie Mac wants to bring more women into the DJ fold.

"I feel like we've hit a groove, I just love it. I never ever go to work not being really excited about going to work." Such statements could be met with rolling eyes, but it's easy to believe Annie Mac.

A hugely successful DJ and media career has taken the Dubliner from tea-making assistant producer at the BBC and underground nights at London club Fabric, to the glamour of Ibiza, Vegas, Coachella and back a thousand times. Mac has become a familiar face on TV too, notably when documenting the lives of superstar DJs Diplo, Fatboy Slim and Seth Troxler, all the while slowly developing into one (of sorts) herself.

It's fair to say that Annie Mac has a dream job. Good on her. Mac's first love, however, remains radio. Over a year has passed since she replaced Zane Lowe on the coveted Monday-Friday 7-9pm BBC Radio 1 slot. "I've always wanted to do radio every day, that's been a dream," she admits. "There's something really nice about doing that every day, you get better at it. It's been a challenge, and it felt exciting and intimidating at the start."

At the BBC, Mac is in the perfect position to witness the impact of music streaming services on radio. Despite the rapidly increasing popularity of the likes of Spotify, she believes that radio is still where it's at. "It's never been such a weird, changeable time in radio. You can come home from work and put on a cooking playlist without having to turn the radio on. But there's something lovely about a radio voice who's speaking to you about the now. In terms of reflecting the time, culture and the local scene, live radio is unbeatable. You can't really get that with Spotify."

We've caught up with Mac - who has the whole family and a BBC film crew in tow - backstage at a sundrenched Marlay Park. The party is warming up nicely outside, and Mac's DJ set is primed and ready to properly ignite proceedings. Mac admits that these short sets were a challenge at first. "If you try and make it a big journey it ends up not being enjoyable because you realise that it's not working, and that puts me in a panic," she reveals. "I've realised what I have to do in these sets. It's about people-pleasing without compromising too much. There's got to be bits in there that people recognise."

Now a festival regular, there's nobody better placed to explain the lack of female DJs and producers on bills both here and around Europe. Is the talent out there? Are there sexist attitudes at play? "I think there's maybe a little bit of both. All the bookers are pretty much male for most festivals, probably with the exception of Emily Eavis, so there are going to be even subliminal situations. I had to pull someone up recently at a UK festival, I was like 'Have you seen your line-up? I'm in row three and there's not one female name until row 12.' 'We couldn't get the names', was their response. But no, you have to make a point. If you can't get the names, try harder. You can't look at a line-up like that and think that's Ok."

Mac comes across more frustrated than angered as she continues. "They probably didn't even notice, but if you're a young woman you'd be thinking 'Oh, I don't have a place at this festival'." As much as Mary Anne Hobbs was a role model for a young Annie Mac, the Dubliner hopes to use her multiple roles to inspire more young women to get behind the decks, too. "I really feel that every time I perform it's important on that level. You see so many girls in the front row just loving it. I want to tell them 'You can do this'. So for as long as I'm doing it I'll be happy to be doing it for that reason alone."