Oluwamodupe Oloyede was recently named the new head drum major
Oluwamodupe Oloyede was recently named the new head drum major of the Florida A&M University Marching 100, making her the first female head drum major.
She will lead the band on the field as they begin the 2025 football season at the Orange Blossom Classic in Miami on August 30, Sports Illustrated reported, adding that she will blow the first whistle to start the show.
“It’s an immense honor,” Oloyede said to WCTV of her new role. “It’s still settling in that this is happening.”
Oloyede is only the second woman ever to wear the drum major uniform at FAMU, after Cori Bostick. However, this year, Oloyede is the first female to lead the line.
“Last year, my goal definitely was to be a clean, precise, physically up to par, beyond par, excellent drum major…Now that I’m a drum major, my goal is to show that you bring yourself to the job, and I am a woman. There’s no separating them. So, being the head drum major this year, the beautiful burden of it is the integrity of the game, that for people to do what I need them to do, I have to do it first,” Oloyede was quoted by Sports Illustrated.
The Atlanta native said this has been her dream since she was 11. While in middle school, she played the saxophone and briefly left her music dreams for dance until a teacher introduced her to the local high school band program.
“I fell in love with a band program before anything else,” she said.
Oloyede started college at Howard University before transferring to FAMU, hoping to make a name for herself in the Marching 100.
“I thought I lost my shot,” she said. “My friends are a little older than me in the band, I’m a year younger than them in classification, but as God would have it, I still ascended to leadership and I couldn’t hide.”
Oloyede is now a senior with a theater background that she uses while performing, WCTV reported. “I say nobody graduates from discipline. As you get older, you actually have to have more discipline to do more work and I like that type of pressure,” she said. “That keeps me on my toes.”
The marching band leader hopes that her story will inspire other young girls who want to follow in her footsteps.
“You got this. Let your work speak for itself, and nobody can deny you,” she said. “And to the women who came before me, who were more than qualified, it’s in your honor.”
The Marching “100” has become a global ambassador for excellence at HBCUs since 1892, known for its iconic performances at presidential inaugurations, Super Bowl, Summer Olympics, and international events.
It was crowned the 2024 Band of the Year the night before the 2024 Celebration Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia.
Becoming a female drum major is not new in the black marching band culture as several HBCU bands have recently featured female drum majors. However, being a female head drum major is exceptional, and leading an iconic Black college marching band as FAMU’s is even more remarkable.