Right up there with “hows the weather,” a popular question heard around campus is “how’s the Chick-fil-a line?”
At certain points during the day, the Chick-fil-a line in the student center is not for the weak-willed. Standing in the infamous line as it wraps through the student center can require a great deal of patience.
However, when one finally reaches the front of the line, he or she will likely meet beloved Chick-fil-a hostess Nellie Davis.
With a smile on her face, Ms. Nellie, as she is known, directs students to the next available cash register in order to keep the sometimes daunting line running smoothly. She can often be found conversing with students as they await their chances to order.
“My favorite part of the job is meeting new students. I really do like meeting the students and I really do like how nice they are,” Davis said.
What these students do not always know, though, is that Ms. Nellie is not Nellie Davis’s only name. In addition to her position as Chik-fil-a hostess, she works as DJ Nellie “Vanelli,” or Nellie V for short, under her own business, Davis Enterprises.
Nellie “Vanelli” began her DJ career with her friend and karaoke DJ Jackie “Lee” Heard. She said she worked and eventually saved enough money through that job to buy her own equipment.
“I ventured out on my own, and the first place I ended up was Fat Daddy’s,” Davis said. “I played at Fat Daddy’s for years, and it has taken me from there to everywhere. I’ve been to Atlanta, I’ve been to Huntsville, I’ve been so many different places throughout my DJ career.”
Davis said Heard is also the one who gave her the name, Nellie V.
“When I first met Jackie-Lee, I went to sing karaoke at one of his gigs. I turned in my name on a little slip of paper, and when he called me up he said ‘Nellie Vanelli!’ and I liked that,” Davis said. “And it stuck with me.”
Her DJ career ultimately took Nellie V to the airwaves. Radio station Mix 96.7 hosted a “mix idol” during which DJ contestants competed in the Auburn Mall. Among them was Nellie ‘Vanelli’ and she performed and made the semifinals. Ever optimistic, at the idol’s end, she was left with one question.
“At the last performance I had, I went to the general director over there and I said, ‘Well, what does it take to get in radio?’ He said, ‘Come see me Monday.’”
She did.
“I went to see him, and next thing I know they gave me an application, and I’m hired,” Davis said. “That’s how I ended up in radio.”
Davis cannot remember exactly how long she has been in the business, but she has been operating Davis Enterprises since her two children, one now with a master’s degree and the other pursuing one, were in grade school.
Davis worked as a seamstress designing custom-fitting clothing, re-upholsters furniture, and did window treatments all under the same business as her DJ services, Davis Enterprises.
She now DJs at
Her work as a DJ is what brought Davis to her job that Auburn students see her working every day as Chick-fil-a hostess.
For several consecutive years, Compass Group, the company that runs most of the food industry on campus, hired her to DJ at an annual Christmas party. She also DJed at other events across campus, and people came to know her, she said.
“The district director of Compass talked to me one day and said, ‘Nellie, how would you like to come be the hostess for Chick-fil-a and be our entertainer on-campus in the student center?’ And I said, ‘Sure’ and ended up here,” Davis said.
Davis loves the platform her work at Chick-fil-A gives her to brighten students’ days, she said. She tries to welcome everyone with a smile and said that even if those she welcomes are having a bad day, they will generally smile back.
“I can look at their [the students’] faces and tell when they think ‘Oh, I’m too sleepy.’ or ‘Oh, I’m overwhelmed’ and I’ll always just say ‘I hope your day gets better.’ or whatever I can do to try to uplift their day.” Davis said. “I don’t mind doing that.”
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