Latest / Nutrition Connection by Dr. Kristen Hicks-Roof / 74: Melissa Mitri MS, RD - PRIVATE PRACTICE / GLP-1 / MEDIA
Transcript
- Kristen Hicks-Roof: Welcome back to the Nutrition Connection Podcast, the show where science meets storytelling. I'm your host, Dr. Kristen Hicksroof, dietitian, researcher, and lifelong advocate of the role of nutrition, health, and wellness. Each episode, I sit down with dietitians and nutrition experts all across the food and healthcare landscape, leaders whose work touches nearly every aspect of our lives. The views, thoughts, and comments on this podcast do not reflect those of my employer nor the employers of my guests. So let's go ahead and get connected. I am so excited to bring on today's guest today. We have a GLP one expert, which I think is such a buzzy hot topic. She's a dietitian. She's a jack of all trades. We have Melissa Mitri. She's a registered dietitian and freelance writer with Melissa Mitri Nutrition. Welcome to the show. Melissa Mitri: Thanks so much, Kristen, for having me. I love what you're doing, connecting nutrition professionals from all over. So I'm really excited to be one of your guests today. Kristen Hicks-Roof: And I was stoked to have you on because I think this is such a hot topic. And I've had a few people talk about, you know, as they think about what's coming next in nutrition and what's a really hot topic. GLP ones is a really hot topic, you know, and I know you're talking at fancy on it, but it's also where is the role of the dietitian in here? So I can't wait for you to talk about your journey and talk about what you do in the GLP one space because I think it's of interest to many. so let's get started from the beginning though, Melissa. Like what really inspired you and made you even want to go into the nutrition profession? Melissa Mitri: Yeah, so I've been a dietitian for a little over 20 years now. and so I kind of started out really kind of just delve dove right into it. It wasn't my initial plan to become a dietitian. I actually was not familiar with the field at all when I first started college, probably like many of us, you know, back then. so I initially was a nursing major. Actually. So I've always loved science. I knew I wanted to do something science and healthcare related. But as I kind of started getting into that major and working in the hospital, I realized I just didn't think that that was for me. So I just connected with an advisor. I went to the University of Connecticut. I'm from Connecticut. And and luckily UConn was a huge school that had a lot of options for majors. And I met with my with an advisor and she gave me this. giant went through this giant book with me of all the different majors related to health and you know asked about my interests and she brought up nutrition. And when she brought up nutrition, I kind of thought back to how I always found nutrition really interesting back in high school and health class. And long story short, you know, she brought up the field of dietetics and just all the other options you could pursue in the field of nutrition. And I found dietetics to be something that really piqued my interest the most in our conversations because It involved working with people and counseling, but also kind of using that sort of science background that I loved. I always considered myself like a science nerd. It was always my favorite subject in school. so I'm really grateful for my advisor. And her name is Ellen Shanley. I have to give her a shout out because she was the Academy of Nutrition Dietetics past president just a few years ago, too. And definitely a shout out to her because when she brought this up to me, I was like, this sounds like perfect for my personality and my interests. So I kind of just dove right into it. I really didn't overthink it or even research it too much. I it just which I don't know if that was, you know, in in hindsight that was definitely a good thing. but that's that's sometimes just how, you know, how I kind of act on things. I kind of just went with my gut and I was like, this sounds like a good fit. So needless to say it was definitely I could not see myself doing anything else. So I'm really glad that I that I did it and you know, excited to talk more about kind of what's happened since then. Kristen Hicks-Roof: When it's such a recurring theme, people come on, they're like, I didn't even know nutrition was a career. You know what I mean? And and Melissa Mitri: Hm. Yep. Kristen Hicks-Roof: you talk about how you just like go with your gut. I mean, I was one of the, I feel like few who I knew I wanted to become a dietitian really early in my life, but I didn't know until I think it was the end of junior year that I had to do an internship. And I was like, wait a minute, you're saying I have to do this like one year of unpaid labor? I'm like, that's gonna make no sense, you know? Melissa Mitri: Yeah, yep. That's true. Yes. Kristen Hicks-Roof: So there's pros and cons of knowing and not knowing. So you just kind of got to say yes. So and it's always great having mentors and people who are in the field who open your eyes to all the things you can do. I know my mentors have been so helpful in things I never thought I could do. I never realized I could do with that degree. So I feel like they can go such a long way. So let's Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: talk about your journey. After you decided you want to become a dietitian, you became a dietitian. What sort of roles have you had ultimately to get you to where you are today, where you kind of own your own practice, do you do the freelance writing? What does that look like? Melissa Mitri: Yeah, so it's definitely been a progression over time. So I started out kind of in the traditional clinical route for several years, because partially because my my internship was very clinically based. And so I interned at Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut. it was a great internship, large teaching hospital. Of course, Yale New Haven is huge. So I I kind of started out working there and then working for a few other teaching hospitals as an inpatient dietitian. So I did that for several years and then kind of just made my way through different positions in the hospital setting. I worked at inpatient, outpatient, and then moved on to management. So I was a food service and dual food service and clinical nutrition manager. and that sort of just fell into my lap too. I had no initial you know, kind of desire to be a manager, but but over time, you know, just having the experience, increasing my confidence in that area. I found that that to be really valuable experience to have. And I feel like I learned a lot from that that I use still in my day-to-day work, even though I'm not really managing a lot of staff in in today's you know, today's role that I have. But so yeah, so worked in kind of hospital clinical settings for over 10 years. and and then me and my husband started having a family and I started thinking about sort of transitions, looking for more flexibility with my work. I always knew, even when I first started as a dietitian, that I wanted to eventually have my own practice and pictured that being like a more of a traditional private practice, and didn't think about all the other things that I'm doing now as well, like to kind of add to that. but so when we had kids, like that was the perfect time that I started sort of saying, like, this is probably the right time, even though I will say there is never no right time. There's never a right time, right? And I would like encourage any students listening, new dietitians, new health professionals out there to not wait. even if they, you know, want to start that traditional route and get the experience to build their confidence. It's great to start sooner. and even just slowly build it up because the longer you wait, sometimes the harder it feels, right? To like start something new, or different. So I started building my yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof: When it takes I was gonna say it takes so much time too to build, right? Like you Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: have to build what are you doing? Do you want a website? Do you need social content? Right? Like like it's hard to just pivot Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Yes. Kristen Hicks-Roof: overnight. And and I think a lot of people can probably relate to you too, of being a new parent, right? Like and you're wanting that flexibility, a little bit more autonomy. you know, it it makes sense for a lot of people. I think as a women dominated profession in nutrition, many of us have this challenge of, okay, how do I balance being a parent? I mean, every industry, right? You have males and females, but I think especially in a women and dominated profession, it's a extra hurdle. Melissa Mitri: Yes, absolutely. And I think that's something that, you know, we don't always think about. And and for women for women and for men, like there's a lot of you know, having that flexibility is really important nowadays, especially now many people are working from home. And there's having that ability to that not a lot of fields have that where there's so many different things you can do and there's so much part-time work and freelance work and all of those things. So I'm grateful for that. And that wasn't the initial reason why I got into it, but that's a really nice perk. I think that is helpful for people to know that you know, there are a lot of options out there with that. So, so yeah, so with that said, I you know, I started my my private practice, started building that. Like you said, it took some time. but you know, slowly building it on the side during the pandemic and during, you know, kind of crazy times. But again, the perk of having that flexibility of being able to work at different times of the day when kids were sleeping and All of those things really helped with that. And so I built my practice. So the first few years working on my own, I was solely in private practice. I did everything pretty much virtually. I just had an in-person office just once a week when I was able to have that. And but then over time I started just connecting with more nutrition professionals, you know, really like again, I love what you're doing with the profession and connecting more people. And I think we all really need to build those connections because it helps us in so many ways. But with that, I started learning about all the other options and opportunities that you can do as a dietitian entrepreneur. So I started learning about freelance writing and I always loved writing and I find that that was me using my creative side. And so over time I, you know, moved from solely private practice to doing Freelance writing, building that up for several years, and do having that be really my main source of income and work alongside a small private practice. And then that and expanded to other communication kind of portals, right? Like so now I consider myself not just a freelance writer, but a communicator because I communicate in many different platforms. So whether that's, you know, I started with freelance writing and then started doing more public speaking, more webinars, presentations. and now more recently doing more like social media partnerships, which I never saw myself doing honestly in the past. And again, never say never. I didn't have an initial comfort level doing that. I found you know, freelance writing was more my felt that that was my core specialty with communication, but then I built up those skills and the confidence over time. So now I'm communicating in all of those different ways. And that's That's really like the majority of what I do now. And I maintain that private practice as well to, you know, see about five to seven clients a week to just maintain those skills and you know, work with people that are out there that are needing help. And it I think it helps make you know, helps my clients that I'm that communicator and that I keep up with the science, but then it also helps with my writing and communications working actively with the clients and understanding. the questions that they have. Kristen Hicks-Roof: When I like how you talked about nutrition communications, how you've kind of evolved over time and that communication started Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: solely as writing and kind of moved into other opportunities. Talk to us a little bit. Like what was that like trying to pivot and grow in an area that maybe you didn't have a really strong muscle in communications, right? Like, so what what was that transition like and how did you decide that you wanted to really grow that muscle? Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think what happened was, just like with social media or any platform that you get familiar with, as I beg became more proficient in one area of communication. So starting with freelance writing, I felt that I've always been a natural writer, but I still had to build up those skills more, right? Just like anything. but once it, you know, I I did that for several years and that was my main focus, I came to a point where I felt that. I'm kind of like, I'm really proficient in this. I could start building a new skill set. And what happened was really when it comes to communications, you can apply communication skills to any mode of communication. And I started kind of using, I'm sure you could agree with this, but like I started using my articles as sort of like a platform, like following sort of like a same formula for any type of content I was creating. So I started creating presentations that were, you know. related topics to what I would write about in my expertise, right? So like my main expertise is in weight management and GLP1 nutrition. And so I, you know, had articles that I wrote related to those topics. And then I started building presentations related to that. And then I started building, you know, pitching social media partnerships related to those same topics. And it's really just using, repurposing that content in a different way. And then over time just using those skills. A little bit differently, like again, using that same formula of okay, let's introduce the topic, let's expand on it. And then what are some clear takeaways that that person listening, whether it's a professional or a consumer, can then take and actually take action from what you're telling them. So Kristen Hicks-Roof: Right. Well I liked how you talked about how you kind of talk somewhat about the same topic. It's just a different mode of communications. You know, I I'm part of my talk at Fenty when we talk on about LinkedIn on Tuesday is really how do you build your niche? And a lot of it is of course your expertise, but then where your passion really lies, right? And like Once you're really passionate and you have expertise, meant you know, as dieticians and nutrition experts, we have the expertise in whatever area that you're in. But if you're passionate about it, it makes it easier to write about it. It makes it easier to develop presentations, to talk about it, because it just flows through you because you really love learning and talking about what you're what you're doing. So I think a lot of that kind of comes together when people find a topic that really just jazzes them up. then all of sudden you can blossom in this space. So talk to us a little bit, like Melissa Mitri: Definitely. Kristen Hicks-Roof: what does your day to day look like? Because you said it, you know, you see a few clients a week, but in general, you are now doing a lot more like freelance, you know, partnerships and stuff like that. So how does a day to day look? If someone maybe is like looking from the outside in, what would they expect if they want to go that Melissa Mitri: Yeah. So so I really try to plan my weeks accordingly. So with with my clients and my practice, I really schedule like, you know, two days a week to see clients. so that I can kind of, you know, I always think about when you're you know, working free in f you know, when you're freelancer or kind of doing, you know, wearing a few different hats. It's really helpful for focus and for productivity to kind of have, you know, buckets of time where you're kind of like, condensing similar work together. So I try to do that with all of the different types of work that I do. So I have, you know, so maybe a typical day would be that I have a morning of clients. I see three clients in a row back to back. And then I dedicate a chunk of time for whether that's social media content creation, for partnerships. So if I have say, you know, one to two reels that I need to make in a given month. Then I'm kind of recording those together and I'm creating the content together. So I get into the flow. And same thing with writing. Writing requires a certain flow. Creating a presentation creates a certain, you know, is a certain flow. So I try to just bundle the like sort of like-minded sort of tasks together. So I get into that flow. And then I feel like it produces better work too, because you're not distracted. So so it's really fun. I mean, it's really I never get bored. I mean I'm always doing something different, but again, always kind of like bringing it back to the areas of specialty too. So even though I sometimes write about topics that are not necessarily related to weight management, it's not you know, not everything I do is related to those topics, but a big chunk of it is. And so it always kind of brings it back to that, that core message, even if I'm writing about something that's a little bit different. It's still like kind of a similar approach and then I'm sharing kind of practical, simple tips that resonate with people that are busy. And so it's kind of, you know, that's a nice way to kind of put everything together if you are doing different things day to day. Kristen Hicks-Roof: I mean, that's really good advice. I am terrible at that. I have like a squirrel brain. So sometimes I'm like, okay, let's write about this and then I go over here. But I I remember in my academic life, people would say, like, you have to dedicate writing time, right? Like when you're doing a doctorate, I mean, you are just like so overwhelmed with the amount of writing. Yeah, Melissa Mitri: yeah, you have to be immersed with it, yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof: but they were like, if you just dedicate, even if you're barely writing, but you're just thinking about writing, like allocate one or two hours every day. And be consistent on it. So I think you embody that really well. I wouldn't say I'm the best at it, but I do have dedicated focus time, especially like if the kids are asleep and I'm like, okay, how can I focus on the creativity side of my brain? Of okay, how can I think new about a project or what can I change on the podcast to maybe like help people more? So I think that that like how you kind of pigeonhole your topics together, I'm sure, is super helpful. So good advice there. Now Melissa Mitri: Yeah. Yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof: how you know you're if you're writing a lot, you know, you we have to be credible experts. So how does scientific data and evidence go into what your day-to-day looks like? Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So so really it's kind of connecting between the evidence and making that evidence easy to understand for the consumers. Most of the writing that I'm doing is for consumers. and there's kind of like two main types of writing that I do as well, which can be helpful to know or just to few people that are interested in writing. you know, one side is more of what I what it's called content marketing. So kind of more for writing for brands where I'm mentioning I'm creating educational content with writing, but kind of mentioning a brand as kind of tying the pieces, the message together with that brand's message and product. and then more like at the other part is educational writing, kind of what we think of more of educational content for a lot of like the major media outlets, like eating well, et cetera. so with that said, for either of those types of writing, you know, always needing to reference and find up-to-date information. you know, writing br brands and outlets are looking for really up to date references where most are requiring, you know, within the last five to seven years for references and studies. And so, you know, I have kind of like a system where you know, in the beginning where I create my outline for my article and then, you know, I start to kind of find the research first. and and kind of my main messages. And then, you know, it's kind of like again, a like a formula of putting the pieces together with that article and like breaking it up into chunks. but always bringing back to like finding that connection of, okay, let's make this easy to understand and interesting to read. but bringing it back to the science, what we do know, but what we also don't know. I think that's really important piece that sometimes we're not always Mentioning, you know, I think that's important part of especially the content marketing type of writing that we wanna be careful with. So that's something that I'm really you know, cautious with and work with the brands on is that we don't want to, you know, overhype. whether it's a food or a supplement or any type of product, right? Like we want to share the science, you wanna share a positive message for that product or food, or whatever it is, but you know, really share what, you know. Be careful with the wording that we're using. Like it may do this. not it does do this if the, you know, the science really isn't there yet. Kristen Hicks-Roof: I love that you added that context of it doesn't, you know, it doesn't always have to be fully for something. Using some of those contextual words like may help to support, right? Gives a little bit of nuance that there is some maybe some evidence for it, but maybe some evidence of null or not necessarily for it. And I really wish more providers lived in that gray zone, right? Of like. Okay, things are not only nuanced, but they're ever changing. I remember my stance on, you know, whatever topic it was, a particular food, has changed in the last 10 years because of science, because of improved methodology. So I do like how you add that. And I feel like that is such a great opportunity for us to stand out as nutrition experts on writing and can being communicators to explain that nuance. The hardest part, and I don't know if you've ever faced this, Melissa, is like Living in the gray is not sexy, right? Like it's not like, Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof: you're gonna lose 20 pounds by eating this dark chocolate. Like, cross my fingers. I hope one day they come up with a dark chocolate that makes me do that. But like, how Melissa Mitri: I know. Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: do you how do you balance that? Melissa Mitri: Yeah. Yeah, no, that that is definitely challenging. So it's finding that balance of like having that hook of like do this one thing and then this will equal this. but you know, the reality is that that's, you know, usually not the case. It's the you know, we all wish it would be that easy, like you said. But but when it comes down to it, I think it's it's starting with a hook. It's starting with, you know, a problem or something, you know, a common question that people are asking about. And that's really important when it comes to writing now and trying to You know, make sure that writing and that article is going to be found, you know, by AI and all of those things. We need to have that hook and that common question that people consumers are asking, starting with that, but then right away leading to the science. So I think that's a way where we could, you know, start with that hook of you know, looking to lose weight quickly, or you know, it doesn't mean that you're saying that you could lose weight quickly. it's just starting with like what that common question is and then you know as soon as possible leading with like okay this is the you know this is what we do know this is what we don't know and we understand you know what what you're looking for but this is probably going to be the most helpful and that's why I think talking about the nuance is really important like you said because I think with that too I think it's important and helpful for for listeners to know that There are a lot of consumers now that are looking for the facts, that are looking for us as professionals, and that the surveys that we see show us that. So even though, you know, you know, it's not always sexy, like you said, I think there's a lot of people out there that are realizing that that's the reality of it, and and that they are interested in like trusting of our our advice. So I think that can really help. Kristen Hicks-Roof: Totally. Well, and I think if you couple like a GLP one, for example, you know, people have such limited nutritional intake, food intake. And so they really do need factual information to optimize nutrition, right? So I almost feel like you're also in a space that people are trying to truly fact-find to make sure that they're meeting their needs. Have you noticed that in that GLP one space? And how did you get in the GLP one space? Melissa Mitri: Yeah, yeah, I definitely noticed that. And then so I got into this space kind of just over time because from working with in with my clients in my practice, because I specialize in weight management. So a lot of my clients over time, as these medicines were becoming more widely used, were asking me questions. Either they were starting to take them or they were curious about them. And so along, you know, at that same time period, I was also something else I do that I didn't mention, yeah. I was in my volunteer. work, I volunteer with the Academy's weight management dietetic practice group. So I'm their newsletter editor. And so I was been involved with them for some time. And with that, I wrote an article all about GLP1s around the time where they were starting to become popular a couple of years ago. And I learned so much about them and how effective they were for many people and how they're kind of changing the landscape. And so that kind of combined with all of my client questions kind of piqued my interest. I was like, wow, this is like This is changing the landscape so much. And I saw with many of my clients that were starting to take them, like finally being able to see results, like more results than they had seen in the past for doing all of the same things, really trying really hard. So, so with that said, that really piqued my interest and it's kind of become like a big, big specialty area of mine. Ever since, you know, working in that space, writing about it, educating other healthcare professionals, you know, just like my presentation that I have coming up at Fenty, you know, one of several that I've done now at this point, and you know, just want to spread the word more about how to help patients in that space and clear up any confusion and misconceptions. Kristen Hicks-Roof: When you g you gave such a great example, it's another tool in the toolbox, right? It helps patients Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: get to a milestone that they wanted to, but with nutrition support along with it. I think that's what's missing a lot of times in the context with GLP one. You know, people who are taking Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: these medications, they may not have the nutrition education and support. So I think that is a great opportunity for us as dietitians to be part of whether it's a healthcare team in the clinical setting or it's private practice working, you know, kind of separate than the the clinical team. So okay, Melissa Mitri: Yes. Kristen Hicks-Roof: you've had a lot of cool things happen in your career. You've worn a lot of hats. You've like really grown in different areas, right? Like you were successful in clinical side and now you're successful in freelancing and, you know, getting companies and working on behalf of companies. What's been your favorite or something you're most proud of so far? Melissa Mitri: Yeah, great question. So I think my favorite, I mean, I love anything in the communications realm. I think I would say it's hard to choose one favorite thing. I would say if I had to choose one thing, it's the doing all the presentations that I've started to do that I've really enjoyed so much. Because in the past I did a lot of presentations in my clinical work for consumers, like for patients. I always jumped at those opportunities because a lot of dietitians that I worked with didn't want to do those things. They were a little bit, you know, scared about public speaking. and so and I was too, but then I really like kind of flexed that muscle and became more comfortable with it. But but now, you know, doing more of those presentations for professionals, I feel like I'm at the point in my career now where that's like a part of me that's kind of giving back to professionals and to students and for the younger, you know, newer dietitians. And and I really love that part of things. It's kind of like a nice you know, again, giving back and then just like a combination of like sharing. Sharing my knowledge, like I'm you know, used to I'm always working with consumers and then you know, educating consumers in all different ways. So now it's like using a different part of my brain almost to con to educate their professional that's then again going to help the consumer in the process. So yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof: Right. I feel like that's my calling too. I I mean I love being on stage. It's probably one of my favorite things. Like you just it is. It is. It's so fun. Melissa Mitri: Yeah. It's just like such a rush. I just love it. Yeah, it's really it's it's great. Yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof: And I love that. I love the public speaking, but I also love giving back to the profession. You know, like I think I've Melissa Mitri: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: had so many awesome mentors and incredible opportunities. Number one by saying yes to opportunities. Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: But I've had so many incredible experiences that I'm like, I want to share and get other people inspired, right? Like this podcast, my goal is people are inspired. Like, I can be like Melissa and I can get into freelance writing. You know what I mean? Like I want people Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: to know that you can go into all these different niches and sectors. And you can do it at any of it. And you don't have to have Melissa Mitri: Yes. Kristen Hicks-Roof: this like extensive portfolio of experience. It just takes time. Melissa Mitri: No, it takes time exactly. It just takes the the willingness to learn and be a little bit uncomfortable. I think that's the biggest thing that I've learned. And that's okay though. I mean, I feel uncomfortable many times in my day-to-day work. And not in a negative way, not in a way that's bad. It's just in uncomfortable, like a good uncomfortable, where you're like you're challenging yourself, just like if you're at a hard work. something, right? Like if you don't have that any sort of discomfort, you may not be growing. And so and you really never know what you can do and all of the things that you can pursue until you get to that point. So Kristen Hicks-Roof: The the gym is is such a good example of that because like when I go to the gym, if I'm not sore the next day, like and I'm not uncomfortable, I know I didn't work hard enough. You know what I mean? It's so it's kind of like the same thing. If Melissa Mitri: Yep. Yep. Too easy. Kristen Hicks-Roof: you're not yeah, if it's too easy, not that that's a bad thing. Some people like to just have right. Yeah. So I Melissa Mitri: Yeah, sometimes that's okay too. Yeah, yes. Kristen Hicks-Roof: think it's, you know, figure out where you want to get uncomfortable, how often you wanna get uncomfortable, and are you ready for a challenge or ready for something new? What other tips and advice would you give someone who's maybe interested in a career path like yours? Maybe they've grown up the career ladder in the clinical side and they're like, I don't know if I'm ready for the jump. I'm kind of ready, but I don't know. How do how do you recommend that they get there? Like, how did you start freelance writing? What did that look like? Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I would say the first step, if anybody is thinking about that and taking making a change, is just starting to talk to others that are doing it. I think that's the biggest piece of advice I would give. And that's sort of how I started. No, you know, not necessarily taking like an expensive course or, you know, because sometimes that can delay the process. And not that there's there's plenty of courses out there can be really helpful for information to refer back to. But I think the biggest thing that's going to move the needle forward is just talking to others that are doing it. And not necessarily rushing the process either. I think it's just starting like I started with joining Facebook groups and just connecting with people in sort of like that group setting and just kind of quietly observing and then over time actually really reaching out and messaging and learning that way. And I think that, you know, even just having like a brief mentoring call with someone that's doing that, like that's how I started. And then now that's why I offer that for dietitians as well, because I know that it's hard to take that. first step. I know it could be scary and then I know it's like you almost don't know where to start. It can feel overwhelming. So you just kind of stay where you are because of that. So just, you know, just ease into it and start talking to others that are doing it, asking questions and and just going from there. Like seeing if you can even, you know, spend a day and and help them with something. You know, even like write a guest blog post if you're interested in writing. You know, that could be a way to get your name out there and get a little experience and feedback. So I think those are all, you know, ways but really just connecting and networking would be the first step. Kristen Hicks-Roof: Yeah. And and you gave great examples of it can be small steps, right? Step one, you can be one of those lurkers on a Facebook group. It's okay to lurk to just say like, okay, Melissa Mitri: Right. Kristen Hicks-Roof: what are hot topics? What are people talking about? What challenges are they facing? Like, you know, lately Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: I've seen some quite a few posts about some of these big platforms, right, that are offering telehealth services. And people are like, Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: what are the pros and the cons? Shoot, I'm lurking. I'm reading it. I'm like, what are people thinking about? Not that I want to do it, but I want to understand Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: what are people having challenges with or what opportunities is it creating? So it is perfectly okay to start slow, start Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: getting some advice, meeting with people, building your network, going in person or or online to do that. So I think super helpful advice to Melissa Mitri: Yes. Kristen Hicks-Roof: Just slowly get started. It's just like lifestyle change. It Melissa Mitri: Yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof: ain't happening overnight. You gotta take time Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: to get there. Melissa Mitri: Exactly. I think we're seeing all the success that people are doing, you know, dietitian and nutrition professionals are doing online, which is great and really inspiring to see that, you know, before and after type of situation. But knowing that all of those professionals started somewhere and that you don't have to rush the process, I think you just want to take that first step sooner rather than later, because that's the hardest part. And then just build momentum over time. You'll get there. Kristen Hicks-Roof: Yeah, I think I totally agree with you. I think there's a lot of opportunity to grow over time. Okay, final question, Melissa. If you had a crystal ball, what do you think is coming next to nutrition? Melissa Mitri: Hmm. Yeah. So I think with in my space that I work in, especially definitely the the GLP one obesity treatments expansion, I would say is the biggest thing that I think is coming down the pike because you know, now you know there's are many other GLP one medications that are in clinical trials coming down the pike. There's oral versions in addition to the injectables. So I think that that in addition to just other obesity treatment options, like there's endobariatrics, like these. Endoscopic bariatric procedures that are becoming more popular, just expanding different op treatment options for obesity. And just I think with that, it's just like recognizing that obesity is a chronic disease and that all of these treatment options were will expand because of that. And I think that we as nutrition professionals have a huge, you know, opportunity to be on, you know, have a seat on the table there. Kristen Hicks-Roof: Well, and and I've seen quite a bit of literature on people using at least in in clinical trials, so not fully for cover and reimbursement yet, but like things like alcoholism and some of these substance abuse Melissa Mitri: Mm, mm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: and fatty liver and you know, a lot of these other comorbidities that maybe associate along with obesity, but maybe not. I even saw a Melissa Mitri: Maybe not. Yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof: paper the other day from one of the clinical trials in children and how it was talking Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: about use of GLP ones in adolescent ages. So I think it's gonna be fascinating to see this kind of like Pandora's box like fully open up and understand like Melissa Mitri: Mm-hmm. Kristen Hicks-Roof: what are the advantages. Obviously we want people to live their best, healthiest life. On the other side, there's always disadvantages, right? Does that mean nutrient deficiencies? Does that mean loss of whatever it might be, whether it's muscle mass or weight or whatever it might be. So That's why we need more dietitians in the space. So I'm happy that you're there. Melissa Mitri: Yeah. Kristen Hicks-Roof: so thank you so much, Melissa, for coming on the show and sharing your sharing your story, giving some great tips and advice. Remember, if you like the podcast, you can go ahead and like, subscribe, leave a review, but most importantly, check out the next episode because every episode I bring out a different dietitian and nutrition expert to share their story and give you tips and advice on how to be successful.