Meet Dessiree Berry

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dessiree Berry. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dessiree, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

For most of my life, imposter syndrome felt like a quiet shadow that followed me everywhere. From being the youngest in my high school and college classes to one of the only women in my neuroscience program. I was constantly surrounded by people older, more established, or seemingly more confident than I was, and I internalized the idea that I had to prove myself twice as hard to belong. Even as I went on to earn two master’s degrees — one in Public Health and another in Clinical Nutrition — while working full-time and navigating new motherhood, that voice of doubt still whispered in the background.

But becoming a mother changed everything. Motherhood gave me a strength and confidence that I hadn’t known existed within me. It demanded that I trust myself, my instincts, my resilience, my ability to lead and provide in ways no classroom or degree ever could. It stripped away the illusion that I had to be perfect to be worthy and reminded me that power and grace can coexist.

When I stepped into motherhood, I also stepped into my power as a woman and a leader. I realized that my voice carries weight, that my perspective matters, and that my capacity to keep learning is what makes me effective and not what makes me an imposter. Today, I lead as the Director of Operations for The Postpartum Project and as the founder of Root & Rise Nutrition with an unshakable sense of purpose. I don’t claim to know everything, but my willingness to evolve, adapt, and keep asking the deeper questions has become my superpower.

I overcame imposter syndrome the moment I stopped trying to shrink myself to fit one role and embraced the truth that I’m meant to hold many at once.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I wear a lot of hats and I’ve finally learned to see that as one of my greatest strengths. I’m the Director of Operations for The Postpartum Project, a nonprofit that expands access to in-home, family-directed postpartum care across rural Maine. My role involves overseeing outreach, education, and community programming that help close the gaps families face after birth. It’s deeply fulfilling work that reminds me every day why maternal and family health systems matter.

But the heart of what I do lives within Root & Rise Nutrition, my functional nutrition practice based inside Mainely Massage & Holistic Solutions in Windham, Maine. Our space includes an Ayurvedic practitioner and a team of incredible massage therapists. A true community of holistic practitioners dedicated to whole-person healing.

As a Functional Nutritionist and Herbalist, I look far beyond calories or macronutrients. My work focuses on uncovering the why behind symptoms and using a systems-based, root-cause approach to help women rebalance their hormones, heal their gut, and feel deeply connected to their bodies again. What sets functional nutrition apart is that it integrates science, lifestyle, and personalized care. I don’t believe in one-size-fits-all protocols; instead, I help clients understand how their unique biochemistry, environment, and experiences shape their health. Together, we create tailored nutrition and lifestyle strategies that promote resilience from the inside out.

Right now, I’m also pursuing my Doctorate in Clinical Nutrition at Notre Dame of Maryland University’s School of Integrative Health. This opportunity allows me to continually bring advanced, integrative evidence-based care to my clients while contributing to research that bridges clinical practice and public health.

And while I balance my private practice and nonprofit work, I also serve as an Administrative Assistant for StoneX Construction, a Maine-based company known for high-quality, custom builds. That role keeps me grounded in structure and organization. It’s the behind-the-scenes systems that make all my other work possible.

The most exciting new offering at Root & Rise Nutrition is our functional testing services, which I’ve launched in partnership with Rupa Health. Functional testing allows me to go beyond surface-level assessments by looking at what’s happening inside the body. This is anything from gut microbiome imbalances and nutrient deficiencies to hormone metabolism and inflammation markers. These tests don’t diagnose diseases; instead, they give a deeper roadmap to guide truly personalized nutrition and lifestyle interventions. It’s been transformative for my clients — especially those struggling with chronic fatigue, digestive issues, or hormonal imbalances — because we can finally identify the underlying contributors to how they feel and create targeted strategies for healing.

At the end of the day, everything I do ties back to one mission: to build systems, families, and communities that are strong from the roots up.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Looking back, I think the three qualities that have shaped my journey the most are a constant hunger for learning, an internal drive to adapt, and a refusal to see failure as final.

From the time I was a neuroscience student to now pursuing my Doctorate in Clinical Nutrition, I’ve always been deeply curious. I never stop asking questions, never stop trying to understand the “why” behind things. That hunger for education has opened more doors for me than anything else.

Adaptability has also been key. I’ve learned that life rarely unfolds according to plan. As I completed two master’s degrees while working full-time and caring for a newborn I had to let go of the ideas and plan I had in my mind. Success, for me, has always come from staying flexible and finding a way forward, even when circumstances shift.

And finally, I’ve learned to never take failure as an answer. Every closed door, every setback, has redirected me toward something better aligned. The only real failure is giving up before you’ve figured out what the lesson is.

For anyone just starting out, my biggest advice is this: find something you love — something that lights a fire within you — and go all in. Passion is the most sustainable fuel you’ll ever have. Once you’ve found that, get creative about how to make it work for you. Find ways to make it profitable, to expand it, to turn it into something that not only supports your life but also adds value to the world around you. When your purpose and your livelihood align, everything else starts to fall into place.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

For a long time, I thought success meant being good at everything. That to be taken seriously, I had to constantly “fix” whatever I wasn’t naturally great at. Especially as a young woman in neuroscience, surrounded by people older than me, I felt pressure to be hyper-competent in every area just to prove I belonged. But the older I get, and especially since becoming a mother, I’ve realized that my strengths are the reason I’m here.

Motherhood changed how I view strength altogether. It showed me that I didn’t have to do it all perfectly; I just had to do it intentionally.My strengths—curiosity, creativity, empathy, and the ability to see systems and patterns—have been the foundation for everything I’ve built: my nutrition practice, my leadership at The Postpartum Project, and my ongoing work in public health. Those strengths are what allow me to connect with people on a human level, to translate the science into actionable change.

But motherhood also humbled me enough to face the areas I struggled with. Teaching me to slow down, ask for help, and release control. I had to learn that being “well-rounded” isn’t about being equally good at everything; it’s about knowing when to lead from your strengths and when to lean on others.

So now, I go all in on my gift, all the things that light me up, and I surround myself with people who complement what I can’t do alone. That balance has made me more authentic, more effective, and ultimately, more at peace.

When you stop trying to be everything, you finally have the space to be yourself. That’s where your real power lives.

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Photo Credits – Instagram @berryblossom.photos

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