I don’t worry about what people think. I focus on making an impact. If I were to feel concerned about what people think about my profession, then my mindset wouldn’t stay positive and focused. Instead of caring how people perceive my chosen title, I am busy creating content and solving the problems of my target audience. Once a dietitian confidently defines his or her business, at that point I ask you: Does it matter what other people think you do for a living? What matters is your end goal and I recommend to start by defining that. As Colon Powel said in his Ted Talk, “Have a vision and be demanding.” He didn’t say, “Have a vision and question what other people think about you while you’re on your journey.”

Kirsten Screen, MPH, RD, LD

I am part coach, part cheerleader, part counselor, part accountability committee, part myth buster…I try very much to meet each client where he or she needs me. What I mean is, for some clients I provide a step-by-step plan on what they should tackle – because that is what those clients need. For others I’m more of a sounding board. It just depends on what is needed!

Megan Boitano, MS, RD, LDN, CNSC

Explaining what a registered dietitian does can be difficult. My goal is to be a blessing in the lives of the people I serve. There are both ordinary and extraordinary challenges that people face with nutrition. Finding a way to use my knowledge and skills to be a blessing and help create joy or alleviate suffering is my primary aim.

Mary Purdy MS, RDN

I work with clients/patients over the phone providing diet and lifestyle counseling utilizing a personalized medicine approach which takes into account nutritional genetics, blood analyte biomarkers, microbiome and salivary cortisol. We take a long-term, integrative approach where we address diet, physical activity, stress, sleep, and supplementation. What is incredible is that we work with folks long enough to gather data that helps us to see how our intervention strategies have made a difference in their lives. I also act as an educator at the company, training our new hires and helping to build new trainings on a variety of topics for our current dietitians. For “Mary’s Nutrition Show”, we produce weekly shows either on Facebook Live or recorded for a podcast that provide easy to understand information on a myriad of food and nutrition topics that are usually sprinkled with a lot of humor to keep it fun and interesting for both listener and for me.

Maya McColm, APD, AN

As an Australian dietitian, we are “Accredited” and not “Registered”. The issue of registration has been a greatly debated topic amongst Dietitians in Australia. I became a Dietitian because I believe it to be a very honorable and respected profession that can make a significant positive difference in people’s lives.

Heather Caplan, RD

In a startup you do a little bit of everything! Some days I’m focused on marketing and growth, some on nutrition curriculum and content, working with our network of experts, and/or product development. It depends on what the team needs and where we are with certain projects.

interviews