Lots of people have hobbies. But few go as hard as these women—dentists whose drive for perfection doesn’t dwindle after 5 p.m.
BY HOWARD GENSLER
KELSEY JANE stood on the audition stage of NBC’s long-running hit show America’s Got Talent this sea-son and bashfully told the world that she’s a dentist. Then she was hoisted into the air and performed a graceful, flying, spinning, gravity-cheating aerial routine that was rewarded with a standing ovation from the audience plus four yes votes from the show’s squad of celebrity judges: Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel.
It was a life-changing moment. Al-though she had been practicing for years, she seemed stunned by the reaction. Her act and the response were a total shift from her days working as a dentist. It’s rare to get a standing ovation from patients.
It alleviates a lot of that stress and reminds
me that I’m not just my job—I’m human.”
The Pursuit of Happiness
At Mountain Dental Group in Las Vegas, where she practices general dentistry, Kelsey Jane is known as Dr. Kelsey Conrad, and few of her patients previously knew of her secret superpower before she appeared on national television.
“I have always tried to compartmentalize everything,” she says, separating her two lives. With 20 years of dance and ballet growing up, she says she’s always had some physically challenging side pursuit to complement the mentally challenging aspects of daily life.
Although she never thought about becoming a professional dancer, she put her dance background to good use when she began applying to dental schools. “I needed scholarship money,” she says, “so I did Miss America pageants.”
DR. KELSEY CONRAD
Aerialist, Ballerina, Dentist
Hello, Miss Dallas/Fort Worth 2014.
The aerial act stems from her love of Cirque du Soleil as a young girl and then being inspired by the aerialist in The Greatest Showman, a 2017 fictionalization of the life of P.T. Barnum. Now her AGT fame—she eventually made it to the live semifinals—is affording her opportunities to perform at circus festivals and with symphony orchestras around the country, and will one day, she hopes, bring her back to Cirque du Soleil.
“I love that I have two different things happening,” she says of the balance her aerial act brings. “If I have a really hard day at the office, I’m going to beat myself up about that for a long time. When I train at the aerial studio, I’m able to physically work through my frustrations. It alleviates a lot of that stress and reminds me that I’m not just my job—I’m human.” Other days, when Kelsey Jane, a self-
proclaimed perfectionist, is struggling in the air, an interesting or difficult dental procedure for Dr. Kelsey Conrad may clear her mind of those struggles.
Pain and Gain
The aerial work is trength-building. I have to be flexible.”
The fitness that goes into her aerial act also helps her dentistry. “The aerial work is strength building,” she says. “I have to basically lift my body weight in the air and have to be super-flexible in my back. So I do exercises that open up my shoulders, open up my neck, open up my back and my hips.” Hunching over patients all day is very tough on the back, as any dentist is all too aware, so she expects her strong core will help with her longevity.
“It’s also great for extractions,” she adds. “I have strong hands.”
Dr. Conrad isn’t the only dentist who pushes her body and risks danger: Dr. Desiree Walker of Lumber River Dental in North Carolina appeared on three seasons of American Ninja Warrior. Dr. Britt Baker is an Orlando, Florida–based dentist who is also a professional wrestler for All Elite Wrestling. No pro wrestling name like “The Driller” or “The Tooth Puller” for her: The first woman signed to AEW, this former world champion wrestles under the name Dr. Britt Baker, DMD, and shows that even professional wrestlers can be scared to see the dentist.
Days of Thunder
Indianapolis pediatric dentist Dr. Jennifer Satterfield-Siegel finds her work-life balance in another field, as an owner of a Nascar racing team.
Dr. Satterfield-Siegel had been a dentist for around 15 years when her husband, Max, accepted the role of president of global operations for Dale Earnhardt Inc., which runs the racing and business affairs associated with the late stock-car legend. “We moved to North Carolina,” she says. “He was basically running the Nascar team and doing everything Nascar. We got bitten by the bug, so we stayed in it.”
That was in 2007, when Max became the first African-American president of a major racing team. Looking to further diversify the sport, Nascar in 2009 asked Max to manage its Drive for Diversity program. Now Dr. Satterfield-Siegel is the first black woman to co-own a racing team, Rev Racing; she also oversees Nascar’s Drive for Diversity Driver Development class and Pit Crew Development Program, which have brought many new faces into the sport. Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson and Daniel Suarez have all come through the program, and Rev Racing has had successful seasons and drivers in the ARCA Menards series, including the 2021 and 2024 Rookie of the Year and the 2022 and 2024 Driver of the Year.
“The excitement of racing is just super cool,” Dr. Satterfield-Siegel says, “and we run the Drive for Diversity program for Nascar through our racing team. It’s nice to be able to help drivers achieve excellence, get the experience of being on the track and learn the ins and outs of driving.”
How does racing tie into her dentistry? Dr. Satterfield-Siegel has been able to bring groups of children from her pediatric practice to the races; she has enlisted Rev drivers to speak to school and community groups; and kids learn that there are many careers in the sport aside from driving the vehicle itself. “You can be an engineer, an artist, work in marketing. You can be an accountant. There are so many different disciplines in Nascar,” she says.
But Dr. Satterfield-Siegel doesn’t just expose her patients to racing—she promotes dentistry and exposes her practice, Special Smiles, to potential new patients by putting her logo on the cars.
“I have kids in the practice that follow our team,” she says, “and it’s fun for the kids to see our logo on the car.” She adds that Rev drivers also know they’re driving for the kids, some of whom may have cleft palates or other serious dental issues requiring surgery. When the team wins, everybody wins. “It’s nice that when the drivers get recognition, the practice also gets recognition—and the kids of the practice get recognition.”
Some people play tennis; we go to races, we run a race team.”
As with Kelsey Jane’s aerial act, balance is the key. “It’s so important to have that balance in my life so I’m not just doing one thing that can burn me out,” Dr. Satterfield-Siegel says. “It’s nice to have something that is so totally different from what I do every day. Some people play tennis; we go to races, we run a race team. It’s also nice to be able to create opportunities for young people.
It inspires me.”
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