In this Season 5 episode of Feed Me the Facts, we sit down with Cassidy Sharp, PhD, RDN and Yan Jing Phay, MPH, RDN—two recent graduates of the Diversify Dietetics Internship—to unpack what the reality of transitioning from dietetic intern to practicing RD truly looks like. Cassidy, a maternal and child health dietitian and researcher, and Yan, a clinical dietitian serving diverse patients in Detroit, share candid reflections about their first months as credentialed dietitians.
We explore the emotional roller coaster of passing the RD exam, navigating job searches, managing cultural and linguistic differences, and stepping into roles that require far more counseling, confidence, and compassion than expected. Both RDs open up about challenges specific to being early-career dietitians of color—including representation, self-doubt, and learning to trust their expertise.
Whether you're a current student, future RD, or dietitian early in your career, this conversation offers grounded, realistic insights into growth, identity, and thriving in the first year as an RD.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
Finding Their Way Into Dietetics (00:00) How Cassidy transitioned from food science to a combined PhD + RD path, and how Yan’s experience with an eating disorder led her to pursue nutrition and eventually her MPH in dietetics.
Navigating Internships, Visa Barriers, and the Exam (06:00) Yan’s high-pressure experience as an international student balancing visa constraints, timelines, and finances — and Cassidy’s journey finishing a PhD while completing supervised practice.
The First Months as New Dietitians (09:00) That surreal moment of becoming “an RD,” the pressure that follows, and the emotional and mental shift required when stepping into professional roles.
What They Wish They’d Known Earlier (12:00) How understanding program options, timelines, and pacing could have reduced stress — and why patience with yourself matters.
Surprising Moments in Early Practice (17:00) From unexpected counseling dynamics to navigating complex clinical encounters, they share the “no one taught me this in school” moments.
A Look Into Their Day-to-Day Roles (20:00) Cassidy’s work at WIC and upcoming research position, and Yan’s acute care clinical responsibilities, charting, interdisciplinary communication, and patient education.
Why Representation Still Matters (24:00) How being one of few dietitians of color in their settings impacts patient trust, shapes their learning curves, and highlights the need for culturally humble care.
Career Growth and What’s Next (28:00) Maternal and child health goals, MNT literacy, teaching aspirations, breastfeeding support training, and weaving research into practice.
Advice for Future Dietitians (30:00) Set your own pace. Stop comparing. Know why you want this career. Stay grounded in something beyond school and work.
Resources & Links:
Connect with Yan: LinkedIn: Yan Jing Fe, MPH, RDN
Connect with Cassidy: Email: cassiebsharp@gmail.com
️ Stay connected with Feed Me The Facts:
Website: www.diversifydietetics.org
Instagram & Facebook: @DiversifyDietetics
Send in your thoughts/questions: fmtf@diversifydietetics.org
Don’t forget to subscribe to The Squeeze, Diversify Dietetics’ monthly newsletter for the latest updates in nutrition and dietetics.
Listen now on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube
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In this Season 5 episode of Feed Me the Facts, we sit down with Cassidy Sharp, PhD, RDN and Yan Jing Phay, MPH, RDN—two recent graduates of the Diversify Dietetics Internship—to unpack what the reality of transitioning from dietetic intern to practicing RD truly looks like. Cassidy, a maternal and child health dietitian and researcher, and Yan, a clinical dietitian serving diverse patients in Detroit, share candid reflections about their first months as credentialed dietitians.
We explore the emotional roller coaster of passing the RD exam, navigating job searches, managing cultural and linguistic differences, and stepping into roles that require far more counseling, confidence, and compassion than expected. Both RDs open up about challenges specific to being early-career dietitians of color—including representation, self-doubt, and learning to trust their expertise.
Whether you're a current student, future RD, or dietitian early in your career, this conversation offers grounded, realistic insights into growth, identity, and thriving in the first year as an RD.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
Finding Their Way Into Dietetics (00:00) How Cassidy transitioned from food science to a combined PhD + RD path, and how Yan’s experience with an eating disorder led her to pursue nutrition and eventually her MPH in dietetics.
Navigating Internships, Visa Barriers, and the Exam (06:00) Yan’s high-pressure experience as an international student balancing visa constraints, timelines, and finances — and Cassidy’s journey finishing a PhD while completing supervised practice.
The First Months as New Dietitians (09:00) That surreal moment of becoming “an RD,” the pressure that follows, and the emotional and mental shift required when stepping into professional roles.
What They Wish They’d Known Earlier (12:00) How understanding program options, timelines, and pacing could have reduced stress — and why patience with yourself matters.
Surprising Moments in Early Practice (17:00) From unexpected counseling dynamics to navigating complex clinical encounters, they share the “no one taught me this in school” moments.
A Look Into Their Day-to-Day Roles (20:00) Cassidy’s work at WIC and upcoming research position, and Yan’s acute care clinical responsibilities, charting, interdisciplinary communication, and patient education.
Why Representation Still Matters (24:00) How being one of few dietitians of color in their settings impacts patient trust, shapes their learning curves, and highlights the need for culturally humble care.
Career Growth and What’s Next (28:00) Maternal and child health goals, MNT literacy, teaching aspirations, breastfeeding support training, and weaving research into practice.
Advice for Future Dietitians (30:00) Set your own pace. Stop comparing. Know why you want this career. Stay grounded in something beyond school and work.
Resources & Links:
Connect with Yan: LinkedIn: Yan Jing Fe, MPH, RDN
Connect with Cassidy: Email: cassiebsharp@gmail.com
️ Stay connected with Feed Me The Facts:
Website: www.diversifydietetics.org
Instagram & Facebook: @DiversifyDietetics
Send in your thoughts/questions: fmtf@diversifydietetics.org
Don’t forget to subscribe to The Squeeze, Diversify Dietetics’ monthly newsletter for the latest updates in nutrition and dietetics.
Listen now on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube
Season 3 Episode 2: Making a Difference as a RD in Nutrition Communications
Feed Me the Facts
42 minutes 26 seconds
4 years ago
Season 3 Episode 2: Making a Difference as a RD in Nutrition Communications
Are you interested in nutrition but unsure of whether or not you will enjoy working in a clinical setting or one on one with clients? Then you’ll want to tune into this episode as we sit down with Melanie Hall, MS, RD.
Melanie was inspired to study nutrition by her mother. Since her mother had a hard time getting an education and had to persevere in order to become a nurse, she fought for her children to receive a quality education in the sciences. This led Melanie to choose a major in nutrition.
While pursuing her nutrition degree, Melanie worked as a diabetes educator for Kaiser and it was in this role that she realized she was not meant to save the world just one person, at a time. She went on to obtain a Masters’s degree in Nutrition Communications and begin her career in marketing and is currently the Director of Brand Marketing at Kashi. Tune into this episode, to hear more about her RD journey including her various jobs and “accidents” until she figured out that nutrition communications was the area she was meant to be in.
About Melanie
With a Bachelor of Science degree in Dietetics from UC Berkeley and a Masters degree in Nutrition Communications from Tufts University, Ms. Hall started her career as a marketing manager with the California 5 a Day African American Campaign, where she helped promote fruit and vegetable consumption through Sacramento and Los Angeles health ministries. Then, as the manager of the Network for a Healthy California–Retail Program she learned the ropes of the produce industry and worked with retailers throughout the state to create in-store marketing and events that increased fruit and vegetable purchases among low-income households.
In 2010. Ms. Hall joined the Kellogg Company Wellness team to create and drive the company strategy for partnering with the Women Infants and Children program. In that role, she worked to help brand teams expand their portfolio of WIC foods and helped WIC staff use commercial marketing techniques to find new ways to get participants excited about making healthy choices.
In 2020, Ms. Hall joined the Kashi team as the Director of Brand Marketing, where she works with her team to create food, content, partnerships, and programs that help make eating well easy for people and the planet.
Feed Me the Facts
In this Season 5 episode of Feed Me the Facts, we sit down with Cassidy Sharp, PhD, RDN and Yan Jing Phay, MPH, RDN—two recent graduates of the Diversify Dietetics Internship—to unpack what the reality of transitioning from dietetic intern to practicing RD truly looks like. Cassidy, a maternal and child health dietitian and researcher, and Yan, a clinical dietitian serving diverse patients in Detroit, share candid reflections about their first months as credentialed dietitians.
We explore the emotional roller coaster of passing the RD exam, navigating job searches, managing cultural and linguistic differences, and stepping into roles that require far more counseling, confidence, and compassion than expected. Both RDs open up about challenges specific to being early-career dietitians of color—including representation, self-doubt, and learning to trust their expertise.
Whether you're a current student, future RD, or dietitian early in your career, this conversation offers grounded, realistic insights into growth, identity, and thriving in the first year as an RD.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
Finding Their Way Into Dietetics (00:00) How Cassidy transitioned from food science to a combined PhD + RD path, and how Yan’s experience with an eating disorder led her to pursue nutrition and eventually her MPH in dietetics.
Navigating Internships, Visa Barriers, and the Exam (06:00) Yan’s high-pressure experience as an international student balancing visa constraints, timelines, and finances — and Cassidy’s journey finishing a PhD while completing supervised practice.
The First Months as New Dietitians (09:00) That surreal moment of becoming “an RD,” the pressure that follows, and the emotional and mental shift required when stepping into professional roles.
What They Wish They’d Known Earlier (12:00) How understanding program options, timelines, and pacing could have reduced stress — and why patience with yourself matters.
Surprising Moments in Early Practice (17:00) From unexpected counseling dynamics to navigating complex clinical encounters, they share the “no one taught me this in school” moments.
A Look Into Their Day-to-Day Roles (20:00) Cassidy’s work at WIC and upcoming research position, and Yan’s acute care clinical responsibilities, charting, interdisciplinary communication, and patient education.
Why Representation Still Matters (24:00) How being one of few dietitians of color in their settings impacts patient trust, shapes their learning curves, and highlights the need for culturally humble care.
Career Growth and What’s Next (28:00) Maternal and child health goals, MNT literacy, teaching aspirations, breastfeeding support training, and weaving research into practice.
Advice for Future Dietitians (30:00) Set your own pace. Stop comparing. Know why you want this career. Stay grounded in something beyond school and work.
Resources & Links:
Connect with Yan: LinkedIn: Yan Jing Fe, MPH, RDN
Connect with Cassidy: Email: cassiebsharp@gmail.com
️ Stay connected with Feed Me The Facts:
Website: www.diversifydietetics.org
Instagram & Facebook: @DiversifyDietetics
Send in your thoughts/questions: fmtf@diversifydietetics.org
Don’t forget to subscribe to The Squeeze, Diversify Dietetics’ monthly newsletter for the latest updates in nutrition and dietetics.
Listen now on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube
