We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Berthoumieux. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley below.
Hi Ashley, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
Imposter syndrome is only as real as you believe it. The real imposter is the self-limiting belief that you are not qualified or wise enough to carry out a job or responsibility that you’ve trained extensively for. I try to remind myself of this every time I think I need another certification or professional degree to give nutrition advice for a specific medical condition. The reality is that I spent many years in graduate school studying the various effects of dietary habits on health and have trained clinically in a hospital for a year at the height of the pandemic, where I helped medical teams with tube feed calculations and nutrition counseling for acutely ill patients. As a Registered Dietitian, I’m already an expert in food and nutrition, and it’s more important to provide compassionate, quality care and refer out when something is beyond my scope rather than collecting more certifications and degrees. Continuing education is still important for staying up to date with the latest evidence in clinical practice, but I’m not an imposter if I don’t know every nutrition fact as a Registered Dietitian — I’m just human and the most professional act is to be honest in my abilities to either give nutrition recommendations or referrals to other specialists.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
As a Registered Dietitian, my goal is to help women stop feeling stuck in a cycle of dieting by finding sustainable solutions to their health concerns with a personalized nutrition approach. The most exciting aspect of what I do is helping women feel heard in a healthcare system that traditionally minimizes women’s concerns and discourages their pursuits for addressing their health problems holistically. It’s always gratifying when my clients realize that they’re not necessarily “doing it all wrong” when it comes to their diet and lifestyle, but rather they’ve been given a lot of conflicting advice that’s not personalized to their individual needs. My nutrition counseling approach uses a mixture of clinical assessment, nutrition education and client-centered goals to achieve improved wellbeing. I offer a program that can be tailored in terms of length and number of sessions so that my clients experience fully personalized 1:1 nutrition counseling that meets their needs and preferences.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Processing discouragement thoughtfully: I did not follow a professional path that is traditionally lucrative or reputable, so many people made snarky comments while I was pursuing my Master’s degree in clinical nutrition. In retrospect, I realize that most of them cared about me and wanted to see me do well, but I’m so thankful that I stuck to my own intuition and passion rather than letting their limiting beliefs stop me. Instead, I’ve created a unique career that’s easily adaptable and increasingly respectable.
2. Learning how to apply complex, scientific principles to clinical practice: Despite what social media may suggest, nutrition is actually a science and an art. A lot of coursework in chemistry, physiology and research methods was required to become a Registered Dietitian, but it’s taken even more practice to learn how to artfully communicate that information in a way that easily makes sense to someone who wants to leverage nutrition to improve their health, especially if they’re living with a chronic illness. Striking a balance between the science and the art of it all is a continuous learning process and I’m enjoying the journey.
3. Knowing when to seek mentorship: Running a business is not for the weak and knowing where to start can be even tougher. I’m grateful that I’ve found people in my extended network who work specifically with Registered Dietitians to help them build their own clinical practices. From LLC formation to insurance billing, the process can easily get overwhelming and I’m still navigating the whole system, so seeking advisors who are skilled in those areas within my profession has been helpful. I think finding the right mentor is key in every career path.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
There are so many professionals I’d love to collaborate with! From other healthcare practitioners to creatives, I’d love to grow my network to build a referral base, expand my social media presence and maximize thought partnership. I’d especially love to work with medical providers in women’s health and gastroenterology. I’d also like to connect with PR professionals and health publication editors who could help me build more visibility as I grow my practice. I’m still in the beginning stages of my business since I also work as a clinical research manager for a digital health company, but eventually I’d love to pivot to working on my LLC exclusively and strongly believe that fostering these types of connections will support my entrepreneurship endeavors.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mieuxbyashley.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mieuxbyashley.nutrition/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/c-ashley-berthoumieux-532352212/
Image Credits
Shakira Hunt
Abbe Foreman
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
