My French grandmother was my unexpected mentor - I'd sit mesmerized in her kitchen watching her transform garden strawberries into healing jam, instinctively learning food's power beyond nutrition. Through those shared moments stirring pots and flipping crepes, I absorbed that meals could be both medicine and joy, which became my lifeline when autoimmune disease struck years later. That foundation taught me to approach dietetics through the lens of personal stories and cultural heritage, not just science.
I learned that having a broad background helped guide my decision making. My professor, Dr Lupton help me link what we studied to what I'd already been doing as an athletic trainer and EMT. Having a background in a variety of different things helped me bring together a wide variety of options and helped me think clearly under pressure. That's what pushed me to double major in nutrition and food science, so I would have a variety of opportunities open to me once I become a registered dietitian.
I'm not a registered dietitian, so I can't speak from that exact path, but I've had a mentor relationship that shaped how I grow professionally. One early project comes to mind. I kept overworking everything and still felt behind. It felt odd at first when my mentor pushed back on my pace instead of my output. I cultivated the relationship by bringing real work, not vague questions, and asking for direct feedback even when it stung. The biggest lesson was learning to simplify. Progress came from doing fewer things well. They also taught me to document decisions so I wasn't rebuilding my thinking every week. That habit saved me hours and made my work calmer, abit at a time.