Kara Ignasiak, MS, RDN, CD

There is SO much that RDs can do and so many areas that we can bring value to outside of the typical RD positions. Networking and building relationships is also extremely important to finding unique jobs in the field. I would not have found the role I have today if it were not for the connections I made during my graduate studies and AmeriCorps service.

Mindy Black MS, RD, CSSD, CPT; Samantha Previte, RD, LDN, CPT; Lauren Smith MS, RD, LDN and Whitney Hochstetler, MS, RD, LDN

I cold-called Mindy Black (other co-owner of Dietitians of Palm Valley) who at the time owned Mindy Black Nutrition. We had very parallel career paths: counseling, sports, and the grocery store experience. After speaking with Mindy, I moved to Florida to partner with her, co-created Dietitians of Palm Valley, and continued to grow our practice into what it is today.

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.

Stephanie Simms Hodges, MS, MPH, RDN

I work with school nutrition professionals to enhance their school nutrition programs and I offer a wide variety of services to them including: grant writing and implementation, staff training, menu certification, nutrient analysis, special diet consulting, wellness policy consulting, nutrition education programming consulting, strategic planning, and marketing and social media consulting.

Aaron Owens Mayhew, MS, RDN, CD

I’ve created my own niche and job title as a “Backcountry Dietitian”. I work with a wide variety of individuals that spend time adventuring outdoors whether that be hiking, backpacking, packrafting, horse camping, backcountry hunting and more. My job is to help outdoor explorers meal plan for their adventures in a way that allows them to eat a nutritious diet while keeping the weight of the food as light as possible.

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.

interviews