Brianna Elliott, MS, RD, LD

My main responsibilities are to help with the planning and nutrition analysis of our 9 different menus and provide nutrition education and counseling to our clients. My job also involves a lot of community nutrition outreach—a couple of my favorite aspects of this are helping run our Summer Meals Program and helping our chefs plan our monthly cooking classes.

Sonja Stetzler, MA, RDN, CPC

In my experience, most people have a narrow view of what dietitians do, and they are surprised when I talk about what I do from a communications perspective.

Kitty Broihier, MS, RD, LD

Despite thinking I wanted to work in clinical dietetics and majoring in Dietetic at Michigan State Univ., once I was knee-deep in my internship (at the Univ. of Iowa Hospitals) I realized I really wanted to reach more people than I could doing one-on-one consulting. I also realized I liked writing/marketing and the creativity of developing materials, so I went into nutrition communications.

Dan Fenyvesi M.S. R.D.

My first job after graduate school and getting my RD was with a public health clinic in Oakland. I found that after that job it wasn’t too hard to get employment, and jobs with other clinics, retreat centers, and colleges followed. In 2014 I received the Fulbright Scholar Grant to work in Nicaragua, that was also a big milestone for me and has allowed me to work on branching out to more international work.

Leah McGrath, RD, LDN; Leia Flure, MS, RD, LDN; Kim Melton, RD; Lucía de Rueda Aramburu, RD, MSc.; Matt Jacobs, MA, RD, LD, NSCA-CPT and Sophie Medlin, RD

I started BUD in 2014 at a time when it felt like there was a lot of negativity and criticism about dietitians. I regularly saw groups/social media accounts and pages, individuals and the media accusing dietitians of lacking integrity. Having been a dietitian for almost two decades at that point I knew that our profession deserved better treatment and a more positive space to encourage each other and celebrate our accomplishments.

Erica Julson, MS, RDN, CLT

I just want other dietitians to know that it’s okay to be different & follow your heart with your career path. If you don’t like a certain area, like say, clinical or food service, then don’t do it! Lean into what you enjoy and what you’re naturally good at. Play to those strengths & start setting yourself apart. The world is your oyster, and your career options are only limited by your own imagination.

interviews