Empowering Dietitians

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

Hustle culture is easy to get caught up in, especially as a dietitian entrepreneur - even if you try hard to avoid it. In this episode, originally aired as episode 117 during season 4, host Jess Romola shares her unscripted account of her own brush with hustle culture to normalize the process of identifying "slips" and misalignments, and making intentional choices to bring our decisions back in line with our values.

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

Whether you're listening around New Year's and your brain is primed for talk of goal setting, or you're simply in need of a mid-year reflection session, this episode (originally aired as episode 116, season 4) will guide you through the process of setting more intentional, aligned goals...without the hustle!

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

One of the biggest complaints dietitians have is their compensation. We are a chronically underpaid field, and this can create a lot of money scarcity for us. How can we learn to have a more abundant, or secure relationship with money that allows us to make decisions in alignment with our true values and priorities -- without ignoring the fact that money is a necessity in our society? Listen in to hear Jess' take, originally aired as episode 119 during season 4.

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

In this episode, I chat with Marissa Sharkey - an inpatient RD turned private practice RD who has been dedicating herself to burnout recovery since the pandemic.

We discuss Marissa's experience with long-lasting pandemic-related burnout, why she believes supervision is one of the most important support options a dietitian can invest in, and how she's been prioritizing joy and, in turn, herself.

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

Dietitians are trained to be fixers by the profession and society, yet this conditioning comes with consequences. Listen in to this episode, originally aired as Episode 79 during Season 3, for tips on how to shift into a different state of mind for improved fulfillment (and effectiveness!) as a dietitian.

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

In this episode, I chat with Barb Mayfield - Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, editor of the textbook Communicating Nutrition: The Authoritative Guide, and founder of Nutrition Communicator, a business supporting fellow dietitians to feel more confident in their communication skills.

We discuss communication skills as a current gap in the field, the importance of engaging your audience (whether that's an audience of 500, or of 1!), and why developing a "signature style" is important for your work.

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

As a dietitian living in an extroverted world, you may wonder if your introversion or empathy will get in the way of your career. In this episode, originally aired as episode 87 during Season 3, host Jess Romola chats through the biases present in how we define and treat these traits, how they can benefit our work, and how to care for yourself in a world that wasn't set up for you.

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

Guest & fellow dietitian Allison Aron joins the show in this episode (originally Season 2, episode 69) to discuss her experience with dietitian supervision, along with her advice for dietitians listening who are feeling lost or directionless in their careers.

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

Dietitian Imposter "Syndrome" is a myth, but that doesn't mean its effects aren't real. This episode, originally aired in Season 2 as episode 65, outlines why so many dietitians experience feelings of being an imposter, and how this can contribute to burnout in the field.

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

This episode, originally from Season 2 episode 37, outlines the CDR's "Credential Misuse Policy," how it impacts dietitians, and what to do if you're feeling frustrated with The Academy. Note, I do refer in this episode to the book "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" and so there is a small section with explicit language in it. I give you a head's up when it's coming if you want to skip it!

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

Before my Empowering Dietitians 1:1 Supervision Program existed, I struggled with perfectionism, imposter "syndrome," and finding fulfillment in my life both personally and professionally. Join me in today's episode, originally aired as Episode 1, as I share more about my own journey, how I took charge of my life as a dietitian, and the vision I had for the show from Day 1.

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

In this episode, I chat with Jennifer McGurk - a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who is on a mission to support professionals to build a business that makes an impact in this world. Jennifer is the creator of Pursuing Private Practice, a business to help other dietitians build a weight-inclusive private practice.

We discuss Jennifer's top tips for fellow Dietitians - including why you don't need to be afraid of making mistakes, the importance of finding supervision early in your career, and the beauty and inevitability of pivots and evolutions in your career as a dietitian.

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

In this episode, I chat with Stacey Dunn-Emke, a registered dietitian and the owner of the incredible website, nutritionjobs.com. Stacey specializes in dietetic career development, resume building, LinkedIn, and job seeking success via traditional and unique platforms for nutrition and dietetic professionals. We discuss...resources to help you with career confidence and satisfaction,  how to start getting paid your worth as a dietitian, and tips for communicating and negotiating more confidently.

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

In this episode, I chat with Stephanie Schwartz, a clinical dietitian working in adult acute care in NYC, about the myths and facts of clinical RD life. In today's episode, we cover...how to tell the difference between needing to LEAVE clinical versus finding or advocating for a new clinical environment, why there's no such thing as one "right" way to be a dietitian, and the untold benefits of working a clinical job!

Note: Empowering Dietitians is on a Maternity Leave hiatus January - April 2024. During this time, we will be re-airing top episodes of the show with new intros, updates, and insights.

Before my Empowering Dietitians 1:1 Supervision Program existed, I struggled with perfectionism, imposter "syndrome," and finding fulfillment in my life both personally and professionally. Join me in today's episode, originally aired as Episode 1, as I share more about my own journey, how I took charge of my life as a dietitian, and the vision I had for the show from Day 1.

In honor of this being the last episode before Jess' maternity leave, she's taking the opportunity to share transparently what's been going on behind the scenes at Empowering Dietitians, how she's been feeling (hint: it hasn't all been rainbows and butterflies), and what you can expect from Empowering Dietitians moving forward into 2024.

Being a non-diet dietitian isn't only about the approach we take with our clients - it's also about the approach we take with ourselves, business, and work overall. Coach Stephanie Dodier joins Jess to chat through how to undiet your work as a dietitian overall, including how to root out oppressive systems and mindset myths in your own personal and professional development.

The end of the year can be stressful, and it's easy to get swept up in hustle culture. Take some time to pause before the end of the year and reflect back, reconnect to yourself and your work, and set more aligned, intentional goals for 2024.

CW: pregnancy & parenting

The decision to have kids can be a difficult one - particularly when we start to consider how it will change our lives. Will our career goals change? How will our identities be impacted? Fellow dietitian and mom of 3, Laura Jean, joins host Jess Romola as they both share their experiences and insights into this matter.

Trying to land a new job as a dietitian can be challenging - from ghosted applications to dead-end interviews, and everything in between. In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host Jess Romola shares her top 10 tips from her own dietitian job search earlier this year to help you feel more confident and less alone.

Standard business advice for dietitians is rooted in a neurotypical mindset, and neurodivergent dietitian entrepreneurs - including those with diagnosed or suspected ADHD - are being left behind. Fellow dietitian and ADHD business coach, Tayler Silfverduk, joins host Jess Romola to discuss how ADHD impacts dietitians in alli sectors of work, especially business, and what we can do to lean into how our brains function instead of trying to force ourselves into a neurotypical box.

In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast (Shorts), dietitian supervisor & host Jess Romola guides you through reflection questions and affirmations for grounding yourself in your values during times of strife and crisis - particularly when it comes to social media activism and boundaries. Listen in for all of the nuance, all of the compassion, and all of the perspective you need to root your decisions on how to use and consume social media ethically and sustainably - on your own terms - after a big event shakes the world.

The ability to practice across state lines is one of U.S. registered dietitians' biggest frustrations. The CDR is working on new legislation that would form an interstate licensure compact for the profession, but will it actually accomplish what it claims to? In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, dietitian supervisor and host Jess Romola will walk you through everything you need to know about licensure compacts in general, plus the specifics of the one being drafted for dietitians.

Professional branding is about so much more than pretty colors and a fancy logo - and fellow dietitian and part time web designer Jenn Baswick joins host Jess Romola to chat all about it. Tune in to learn why branding is so important, what it actually entails, and how you can get started - whether you plan to hire out or go the DIY route.

Attending a conference is only half of the experience. What you do after a professional or networking based event can be just as important, if not moreso. In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, dietitian supervisor and host Jess Romola guides you through questions and insights to have a stronger follow-up following a dietitian conference or networking event.

CW: pregnancy

Traveling while pregnant as a dietitian? While this is, admittedly, a niche topic, with over 93% of dietitians identifying as women, and not a lot of social or professional supports in place for navigating pregnancy while also trying to maintain "professionalism," it is not as uncommon of a challenge members of our profession must face. Listen in as host and dietitian supervisor Jess Romola shares her top strategies for traveling safely, confidently, and comfortably (well, as comfortably as possible...) no matter what trimester you're in. Oh, and as a spoiler alert...yeah, there's a reason Jess is choosing to share this episode this week ;)

Going to a large professional conference without a plan can, honestly, be a waste. It's not uncommon to get there, feel overwhelmed, try to do all of the things, and return home feeling like you didn't really get out of it what you had been hoping for. So whether you're attending FNCE or WIND this weekend, or want to file this away for a future conference, listen in to this episode as dietitian supervisor and host Jess Romola guides you through questions and perspectives to help you feel clear, focused, confidence, and aligned with your values and goals...ahead of time.

Have you ever struggled with a lack of motivation as a dietitian? In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host & dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola helps you reflect on the difference between pushing yourself from a place of hustle and judgment, versus pushing yourself from a place of compassion, nurturing, and care. Rejecting hustle culture means rejecting black-and-white thinking, including how we think about rest and motivation.

Did you know CDR is making big changes to their CEU policies in 2024? In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host & dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola offers an overview of what changes are taking effect, how they will impact us as CEU providers and consumers, and where you can go to learn more and feel prepared for this new policy implementation.

Anyone else feel totally overwhelmed by the idea of website design, strategy, and investment?? In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host & dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola sits down with fellow dietitian and website strategist Whitney Bateson all about the dos and don'ts of creating functional and profitable websites for our services.

September ushers in Fall in the Northern hemisphere and with it, if we aren't careful, a heaping pile of hustle culture. In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host & dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola helps you transition from Summer to Fall more easefully with a series of reflection questions and affirmations meant to align your work and life with seasonal shifts. For more on the Fall Equinox, check out Jess' upcoming workshop (below).

As a dietitian you may have heard of social justice...but what about economic justice? In this episode of the podcast, host & dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola is joined by guest Alissa Rumsey, a fellow dietitian passionate about breaking capitalist exploitation in dietetics and working towards economic justice in her own nutrition business. Alissa shares tips and insights, along with others you can learn from if you're interested in continuing in this space.

Have you ever felt like groups, communities, or gatherings within dietetics can sometimes feel a bit...off? In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host & dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola helps you reflect on the communities you've experienced within the field, identifying concerning warning signs of cult-like behaviors that can seep into "community" spaces without us realizing it. By building awareness around unhealthy group dynamics, we can start to change the culture of the profession for the better.

Have you ever felt "left out" of non-diet nutrition spaces? Weighed down by the guilt and shame of your privilege? In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host & dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola makes the nuanced distinction between growth-promoting discomfort (decentering ourselves, acknowledging the need for equity, etc.) and shame-based matrydom, along with some of the important ways a predominantly white, thin profession has influenced the culture and vibe of "inclusive" spaces in dietetics.

We've been taught to conflate success with financial security, but what if that's just sneaky internalized capitalism and hustle culture at play? In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host & dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola offers reflection questions and affirmations to help you differentiate between professional success and having your needs met - without the hustle messaging.

In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast: Shorts, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola offers a series of questions to help you reflect on your relationship to concepts like growth, scarcity, and "enough." Is it possible to value growth and personal development without getting tied down by a scarcity based mindset? Listen in not only for thought-provoking questions, but also a series of affirmations to inspire you throughout the week.

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In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola sits down with Adrien Paczosa, the Chief Clinical Officer of Nourish, to chat about community as a dietitian – what barriers get in the way of us finding community for ourselves and our patients, how we can navigate those barriers to cultivate stronger communities (yes, even if we’re introverts), and how community is often that thing that we don’t realize how much we need until we find it.

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In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola discusses the nuance of individuality "versus" community - does embracing a systems-based, community focused approach mean erasure of you as an individual? Does valuing your unique identity as a dietitian mean you have to also value rugged individualism? Jess discusses the major pitfalls of society's often binary take on this topic, how it impacts us as dietitians, and what perspective she prefers to take, instead.

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In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola offers a series of questions to help you reflect on the labels you use to form your identity, the contradictory and messy nature of our humanity, and how comfortable you feel letting yourself be a whole human. Listen in not only for thought-provoking questions, but also a series of affirmations to inspire you throughout the week.

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In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola offers a series of questions to help you reflect on your goals for the year and how the recent summer solstice impacts our energy, motivation, work, and lives. Listen in not only for thought-provoking questions, but also a series of affirmations to inspire you throughout the week. Note: There will not be a new episode released next week. Tune back in on July 9th, when weekly episodes will resume!

Liked this episode? Check out the upcoming Empowering Dietitians Summer Solstice Workshop! In the episode, Jess refers to it as being "next week" but the actual date is June 12th. See below for the sign up link!

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In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola offers a series of questions to help you reflect on your relationship with "play" as an adult - unproductive, unstructured play. Listen in not only for thought-provoking questions, but also a series of affirmations to inspire you throughout the week. Note: There will not be a new episode released next week. Tune back in on June 25th!

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In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola sits down with Bonnie Green (she/they), a former Empowering Dietitians supervisee. Bonnie is a yoga teacher, caregiver, artist, and non-practicing RDN. She became an RDN in 2018 after completing a clinical internship in Detroit, MI. She has worked in many areas of the field, from clinical to mental health, community, and private practice. In this episode, Jess and Bonnie chat about Bonnie's decision to take a break from dietetics, how much being a dietitian can consume our identities (and how challenging it can be when it no longer feels like a good fit), and how she's exploring passions outside of the field.

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In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola offers a series of questions to help you reflect on your relationship with technology, the activities you gravitate toward to fill your downtime, and what fills you up outside of your work. Listen in not only for thought-provoking questions, but also a series of affirmations to inspire you throughout the week.

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In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola discusses AI and ChatGPT and how it relates to our work as dietitians. Listen in for the conversation that's missing from a lot of Facebook debates on the subject - not whether or not AI will take dietitians' jobs, or some pervasive judgement that if you don't start using AI now, you'll be left behind. Rather, Jess covers what many aren't - what are the ethical implications of AI? What is our responsibility as conscious consumers of breaking technology? And how can we make an informed decision that feels aligned to our unique values?

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In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola premieres a new episode format: a short, reflection-heavy episode on a specific topic. Today, she's talking about our physical environment, the space we take up, and how our surroundings impact us as dietitians...and humans. Listen in for her thoughts, jot down reflection questions for yourself, and walk away with a set of affirmations to hold close to heart over the course of the week.

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In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola sits down with fellow dietitian and supervisor, Charlie Golightly. Charlie (they/them) is a queer & gender expansive dietitian who takes an intersectional, therapeutic approach to their work to support and uplift folks struggling with eating disorders. In addition to seeing courageous clients in their private practice, Moxie Mind, they offer supervision to support other brave, thoughtful dietitians who give a damn about their clients and provide affirming care. In this episode, Charlie and Jess chat about how to bring our own humanity into our work (without the burnout or blurring of boundaries), the underrated potential of supervision for dietitians in all areas of work, and what they hope to see for the future of the field.

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In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola shares some of the biggest pieces of business advice that she's rejected recently, and why she is confidently lowering her prices for the foreseeable future. She challenges popular business sound bites around money, including "Charge what you're worth," and "If they're not buying it's because they don't value it enough." Listen in for an opportunity to reflect on your own relationship with money, whether you're an entrepreneur or not, and feel more confident and aligned in your decisions moving forward.

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In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola outlines the process for becoming a CEU provider for dietitians. After having gone through the process to get her course, Abundance, approved through CDR over the past year, Jess learned a lot along the way - and there's a lot she wished she had known from the start! Listen in if you're considering this either as a service or an alternative revenue stream or, if you simply want to understand the current process for what it takes to become a provider and get your continuing education credits approved.

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In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola sit down with Amanda Mittman, a Registered Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, specializing in eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image.  Amanda is the owner of Happy Valley Nutrition in Amherst, MA, the only weight-inclusive and fat- positive group practice of Registered Dietitians in Western Massachusetts. She is also known as the Bitchin Body Image RD and supports other dietitians in feeling more confident in their body image counseling skills - which is exactly what she chats with Jess about in this episode!

In this episode of The Empowering Dietitians Podcast, host and dietitian supervisor Jess Serdikoff Romola talks about stepping out of your comfort zone, especially when it comes to attending dietitian networking events and conferences. As an introverted RD with social anxiety herself, Jess knows first hand how uncomfortable professional social situations can be, and she's developed a lot of strategies along the way for navigating them more confidently. Listen in for her top tips on how to approach the lead up to an uncomfortable situation, navigating the situation itself, and how to decompress after an uncomfortable situation ends.