Carla Hall was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 12, 1964. She graduated from Hillsboro High School and went on to college at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She graduated from the Howard University School of Business with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, with a major in Accounting, in 1986. After graduation, Hall worked at the esteemed large accounting and consulting firm, Price Waterhouse, in Tampa, Florida. While she was there, she also became a Certified Public Accountant.

In 1988, Hall decided to leave accounting for good. She wanted to pursue her modeling career instead, so she went to Europe to work as a model. She worked in Paris, Milan, and London. She did runway work in many fashion shows, as well as doing photo shoots for print. While she was in Europe, she discovered that she had a real affinity and love for food.

When she moved back to the United States, she moved back to Washington, D.C. She started delivering lunches, first only to friends, and then created a catering business in Maryland called the Lunch Bunch. After doing that for four years, she decided to get serious about food and cooking. She went to culinary school at L’Academie de Cuisine in Maryland where she earned a Culinary Career Training Certificate. In 1996, she completed an externship at Henlye Park Hotel, where she was later promoted to sous chef.  After some years as a sous chef, she worked her way up and became an executive chef at State Plaza, which is a sister hotel.

After that, in 2001, she began her own food-related business, called Alchemy Caterers. She later also added her own line of artisanal cookies. And at some point she changed the name of her business to Alchemy by Carla.

Hall married her husband, Matthew Lyons, in 2006. Lyons is a Food and Drug Administration lawyer as well as a professional photographer who shoots with Nikons. Together, they have a son named Noah Lyons. Hall and Lyons actually met online, on the popular internet dating website, match.com. And apparently, even though Hall was a caterer and is a renowned chef, Lyons does most of the cooking at home. One quote she is known for is, "If you're not in a good mood, the only thing you should make is a reservation." And since she’s often tired at home, she leaves the cooking to her husband. He cooks a variety of food for their family. They are purported to have a very supportive relationship, including doing yoga together.

Carla Hall’s real cooking breakthrough was in 2008, when she was chosen to be one of the contestants on season 5 of Top Chef on the Bravo network. At the beginning, she was in the middle of the pack, but after the Thanksgiving challenge, she was out on top. She was quite pleased with her fresh peas and gumbo, but in the very end she finished as a runner up to the first-place winner (Hosea Rosenberg).

While at the show, she gained popularity because of her personality, even though she did not win the Fan Favorite award that season. She became very well-known for her phrase, “Hootie Hoo” which she said she uses with her husband, whenever they want to know where the other person is.