My journey began in Southern California, where I was born and raised. I attended college at Cal State University, Long Beach, and interned through a distance program, Oakwood University.

During my internship, I quickly realized how lucky I was to have amazing preceptors, as my fellow interns shared some of their horrible experiences. That solid foundation built from the beginning has helped me become the confident and skilled clinician that I am today.

I dabbled in a few other fields when I first passed my RD exam, because the pay was better, but ended up surrendering to doing what I thought would make me happier. I had a hard time landing a clinical job without experience, so I set out to get the CNSC certification.

During my studies for the CNSC exam, a hospital gave me a chance for a per diem position. I was both excited and terrified. Starting from the bottom meant picking up most of the weekends, which also meant no other RD support. Sink or swim. I passed the CNSC exam, and have worked on honing my nutrition support skills ever since.
After that, the clinical job offers flooded in.

I spent most of my career at a large teaching hospital that had a great reputation. I learned more on the job than I ever could have in a classroom.

And then….the pandemic happened. I have never enjoyed flying by the seat of my pants, but you do what you gotta do. We learned as we went. And I saw dietetic interns – our future colleagues – suffering greatly.

Most hospitals were too busy or didn’t have the resources to take on interns. And the interns that were able to land a rotation did not get much one-on-one attention, because the RDs had to balance their clinical load along with preceptoring. There were too many patients to see, and not to mention – how the heck do you teach something that the world was in the process of learning?? It was a whole new terrain.

We were so busy and burnt out, I started to develop spreadsheets to help save time, and shared them with the team. Time is money, and it’s no secret that RD’s don’t make much money – We can change that!

A couple years later, I got married and my husband joined the military. I needed to quit my hospital job to move across the country. I found myself having to brush up on interviewing and negotiating all over again.

I learned that my level of clinical skills made my resume extremely attractive. After some hard-headed negotiations, I found myself earning $15 more per hour than my peers. I felt horrible that they didn’t have the experience or confidence to ask for more.

I also started to see the effect that the pandemic had on interns during that time, who were now RDs, left to practice independently. My poor colleagues were intimidated by nutrition support, and looked to me for guidance. Again, I felt the stretch, wanting to give my full attention to my patients, but also to be a good mentor.

Healthcare is in need of RDs more than ever, and it is already becoming more scarce with the new Masters requirement – now is the time for us to unite, show our worth, and make the change for higher pay.