The artist Pablo Picasso once said, “The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away.” To me, living a purposeful life is a life in the service of others. Realizing that much of our lives are spent working, I’ve prioritized finding opportunities in positions that mirror my passions. I feel our careers should represent who we are and that we should be passionate about what we do for a living.
As someone who battles migraines, I've come to learn the importance of diet as preventative medicine. Growing up in Orange County is quite a challenge, especially when you have a very stigmatized disability. Balancing work with school while keeping a roof over my head was not easy. In my early twenties, I remember spending most of my paycheck on migraine medication, which was around 30 dollars per pill at the time.
Along my journey, my family encouraged me to go to trade school. I became a licensed esthetician in 2011, and while I loved working in the spa environment I always had an interest in health and wanted to do more. With a passion to heal and nurture, I felt that gaining a degree in nutrition would fulfill this need and complement my license perfectly. It would allow me to offer a more holistic approach, as I could not only provide nourishment to the outside, but also from within. During that time, I was living with my younger brother, and although I had two jobs, we could barely make ends meet in our one-bedroom apartment, so I put school on hold and obtained a job in a health food store where I was immersed in working with wellness promotion. This further drew me towards my calling and gave me the determination to fit education in, even if it was one or two classes per semester. It really tests one's patience taking so few classes each year as it greatly extended my time in school and there were many sacrifices I had to make along the way, but eventually I met all my goals and got to where I am now.
A lot of people don't realize what it takes to become a dietitian. I honestly had no idea what I was really getting myself into until I transferred to CSULA and learned about the dietetic internship. Not only are they thousands of dollars, but as a dietetic intern, you don't get paid….and it doesn’t end there, you still have to pass the registration examination which takes months to prepare for. It’s a very long tedious process, but I made it, and here I am ready to use all this knowledge to serve you. I would love to assist you on your healing journey. Thank you for reading my story!
