Closing a 46-Year Nutrition Career … What’s Next?
Forty-nine years ago, I walked into Margene Wagstaff’s office and didn’t know at the time that this meeting would change my life. I was a disillusioned undergrad trying to decide my course of study … and choose my career. Margene had recently started an innovative dietetics education program. We couldn’t have been more different, but we hit it off immediately. Her vision for the future of dietetics captured my imagination. She described how dietitians would migrate from clinical setting and work in fitness center and grocery stores. They’d lead research and public policy and communicate with the media. I was sold! I wanted to become one of those future dietitians! Margene’s painted a compelling picture of how the profession would transform—her predictions came true! Read more >>
Six years ago, I planned to retire from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) and the dietetics profession. It seemed like the right time: my career and business had evolved in a different direction, and I had other ambitions. But I cried myself to sleep on May 31, 2020. It proved not to be the right moment to leave … I had unfinished business.
A few months later, a colleague enticed me to take the role as Leadership Cultivation Director for a new dietetics practice group, Cardiovascular and Wellbeing Dietitians (CV-Well). She gave me the chance to end my dietetics career on a high note. I met new colleagues, made new friends, and got in touch with the next generation of CV-Well dietitians. Most importantly I was able to conceive, test, validate, and execute a leadership development model: the CV-Well Mentoring Circle Program.
The CV-Well Mentoring Circles have become a vibrant network of engaged members who commit to a year-long collaborative learning journey. They encourage each other to achieve personal and professional goals, learning from their shared experiences. Results exceeded my expectations: low-attrition, high-engagement, and many participants advanced to leadership roles.
CV-Well and my colleagues also nominated me for the prestigious Medallion Award, one of the top honors from the AND, which I received in 2023. If I had quit prematurely, I would have missed out on a pinnacle moment in my dietetics career.
My parting thoughts and advice to my colleagues. Professional relationships are a high-touch antidote to a high-tech, AI-driven world.
- Deep professional relationships are priceless. In the long run, you always get more than you give. You may feel burned sometimes, but often it comes around. Give more.
- Reach across and down more than you reach up in cultivating relationships. It’s tempting to focus on the upward trajectory of your network, but your peers and followers help you achieve your goals and rise with you.
- Think big. Stretch yourself and others. Don’t be timid about voicing dissent and pushing against the status quo but do it in a respectful way. Try to empathize with opposing views. Seek common ground.
- If you don’t succeed, try again. My former boss frequently said, “It takes six times and six ways to persuade others to take action.” I’ve learned that she’s right.
- Stay true to yourself. If you lose your focus and motivation, engage your trusted colleagues to help you reset your compass. That’s the POWER of professional relationships and mentoring.
Thanks to CV-Well for making the last six years a wonderful capstone to my career as dietitian. I am filled with hope that the CV-Well Mentoring Circle Program members will nurture each other and grow the community. But now, the time has come for me to depart from my dietetics career and focus on my next chapter. I’ve retired my RD credential and concluded my membership in AND effective May 31, 2026.
What’s next for me? I will continue to offer storytelling workshops that train leaders to transform everyday business moments into powerful, memorable stories that drive innovation, influence decisions, and inspire action. With the launch of my new website, I’ll also be migrating this blog to Substack.
I’m also experimenting with what retirement looks like for me: more exercise and less computer time, volunteering for causes that matter, plus mentoring and supporting others.