Featured RD: How Did I Get Here? Part 1

I began my college years as a nursing student, but quickly decided nursing was not

what I really wanted to do. By the end of my freshman year, I knew I wanted to study

nutrition. I liked the fact that it was a healthcare career, but more importantly, I liked that

it focused on preventative care rather than caring for someone who was already sick.

Lucky for me, Penn State has an excellent nutrition program-not so lucky for me was

the fact that getting a degree in nutrition required me to take organic chem and bio-

chem! Math is not one of my strong points. Knowing that math was not my strong suit, I

made up for my less than stellar grades by participating in various nutrition studies that

my professors were conducting, and running for the executive board of the Student

Dietetics Association (over 300 members strong). During my summers, I worked in the

dietary department of a nursing home, where the staff RD took me under her wing and

gave me amazing work experience.

I spent my first year after graduation working for the Penn State Nutrition Department

collecting food recall data. In the Spring, I applied to two dietetic internships in the

Philadelphia area, Aramark and Marriott. These were my only options since I was

getting married that summer and my fiancee already had a job in Philadelphia.

Fortunately, I was admitted into the Aramark program that fall. I believe my work

experience, leadership skills and working on studies while at Penn State were the

reasons for my admittance.

I also wrote a killer cover letter with my application and read the book “Knockʼem Dead”

to prepare for my interview. The interview was tough, I am not gonna lie. But, some of

the questions they asked, were right out of the book, and I had my answers at the

ready.

A big benefit, I think, to doing an internship with a large food service corporation is that

there are plenty of job opportunities once you complete the program. Aramark and

Marriott both have food service accounts nationwide with schools, universities, ball

parks, healthcare and corporate accounts.

I completed my clinical experience at a large suburban hospital, did my pediatric

rotation at a nationally known childrenʼs hospital and did my management piece at

Prudential Insurance World Headquarters.

Once I finished my internship, I was hired by Aramark to work as a the sole RD in a

small local hospital outside of Philadelphia. This proved to be quite an experience,

especially when JCHO came to inspect the hospital. Unfortunately, that hospital was

bought out by a larger health system and Aramark lost that food service account and I

lost my job. I was quickly hired by Marriott and began working as a clinical RD in a

similar hospital setting.

So this concludes Part 1 of “How did I get Here”. Stay tuned for Starting a Nutrition

Business which will follow next week!