Hall Shares Journey of Becoming A&T’s First Female Drum Major, Entrepreneur and Medical Doctor

Most little girls want to be many things when they grow up, but Dr. Kellye Worth Hall ‘00 knew as a teenager she wanted to become an HBCU drum major. Her childhood consisted of being a natural, yet untrained dancer, an athlete, a musician, and surrounded by a legacy of family members who attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

“I was a typical band kid who played the saxophone for years and I attended North Carolina A&T’s summer band camps for middle and high school students,” said Hall. “I spent my life surrounded by HBCU culture. My dad had season football tickets and I met a lot of the members of the Blue and Gold Marching Machine. This experience helped me to become a drum major at my high school.”

In the fall of 1996, Hall, a native of Soul City, North Carolina, enrolled at A&T and set her sights on becoming an official member of the Blue and Gold Marching Machine. The Aggies were facing South Carolina State University during the final game of the season and on the field there was a female drum major that captured her attention.

“All of my friends knew I could dance and we started joking around with the former band director, Dr. Johnny Hodge, that evening saying, ‘Doc, when are we going to have a female drum major?’ And his response was, ‘Never as long as I’m band director.’ As for me, I accepted his answer but I knew it was more for me,” said Hall.

“The next summer at band camp in 1998, we were all lining up to march to the practice field, and Dr. Kenneth Ruff, the assistant director at that time, came to the back of the band where the saxophone section was lined up, took my saxophone out of my hands, led me to the front of the band, put me in line with the three drum majors at the time and said, “Give my drum majors some competition.” I seriously didn’t have a clue on what was going on but it was official that day at band camp that I was the first female drum major.”

For two years, Hall performed as the commander of the band and graduated in 2000 with a B.S. in biology. She would soon embark on another journey of becoming a medical doctor by attending East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine. She graduated in 2004 from ECU and completed her residency in emergency medicine in 2007.

For more than 14 years, Hall has worked as a medical doctor at various healthcare facilities and she is now an urgent care doctor for Atrium Health in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“In January 2020, medical professionals started to hear about this virus that was happening overseas. Before we even knew it was a pandemic, I believe I was treating patients who had COVID-19 but I just didn’t know and I treated them for flu-like symptoms,” said Hall. “At the early stages of the pandemic, there were limited supplies. Tests and equipment were scarce.”

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Hall is treating patients as they drive up for in-vehicle visits. This precaution allows everyone to socially distance and avoids interaction inside of the medical office.

Another endeavor Hall pursued before the pandemic hit was the relaunch of an adult hip hop dance studio, N.C. Dance District, Inc., originally founded by her business partner, Ana Ogbueze.

“Working at an urgent care has afforded me the opportunity to have a more flexible schedule, and being a dancer, I believed it was time for me to continue in my God-given gift. Even though the pandemic paused the initial relaunch, we reopened the business in the summer and have been going strong ever since,” said Hall.

Hall is currently preparing to publish her new memoir, “I Am the Beat, God Sets the Pace” in June 2021. She is already a bestselling contributing author to the first edition of “The HBCU Experience Anthology: The North Carolina A&T State University Edition.”

“My life continues to teach me to never give up and to always keep the faith in God,” she said.

To keep up with Hall, visit her website at https://drkellyewhall.com.