Dietetic Career Spotlight on Elizabeth Pecoraro, Eating Healthy 4 Life, Optavia
When you have a dream and a plan, your dreams can come true. Meet Elizabeth Pecoraro, MS, RDN, who became a dietitian as a second career after being a buyer at Saks 5th Avenue. Now, her dream job is a reality. She has found balance raising her children while working that dream job. Learn how she happily does it all. - Sarah
What attracted you to the field of nutrition and dietetics?
What attracted me most to the field of nutrition and dietetics was that food can be medicine. For me dietetics was a second career. I was working as a buyer at Saks 5th Avenue. I thought I was working my dream job, but I wasn’t taking care of myself nutritionally. I went to the doctor to see what was going on with my digestion and they wanted to put me on a medication to alleviate my GI symptoms. As luck would have it I met someone, a new friend, who suggested I see a nutritionist before I filled that prescription. She said a change in my diet could solve my GI issues. I listened to her and saw a nutritionist. After changing my diet all my GI issues went away quickly and permanently. As for the medication I was prescribed, it was taken off the market a couple years after. I was so amazed at how I was able to heal my body through food choices. I kept researching everything I could about nutrition and I decided that this was my future. I wanted to help others the way I was helped. I quit my job and the rest is history as they say.
Your Job Title?
Registered Dietitian and Certified Health Coach
Company you are with now?
Self-Employed: Eating Healthy 4 Life and Optavia
Websites:
Social Media:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.pecoraro.98/
- Instagram: @elizanne1
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-pecoraro-ms-rd-cdn-ab5830
Describe a typical (or not so typical) day-in-the-work-life for you?
No one day is the same for me and I enjoy that. I wake up around 6am and have about an hour to myself. This is when I set my goals for the day and then hop online to make connections through social media (FB, Instagram, Linked In). I answer all emails and set up the Zooms I may have that day. Then I get to enjoy breakfast with my family. Afterward, I fit in yoga or another exercise routine and get ready for the day.
Things look a little different these days since the pandemic. I made changes in my life that are risky, but I am living the life that I know I am supposed to live. I left my job at Columbia after 10yrs to be home with my children. I am concentrating on my private practice that is now virtual and am working my health coaching business full-time, which doesn’t mean 9-5, thank goodness. I carve out 3-4 hours a day to contact my coaching clients, see patients virtually, conduct health assessments, and help other health coaches build their businesses. After those “work” hours I spend time with my children. When I am working I am focused on that and when I am with my children work is not touched. This is the benefit of working from home and for yourself. You make your own schedule. Now that I have experienced this I wouldn’t want it any other way. We then make dinner and sit down as a family. After dinner and clean up, I head back to the computer for about 30min to respond to any emails and/or comments on social media. It is all about building relationships when it comes to being an entrepreneur, so yes, posting and commenting on social media is actually part of my “work”. I put my children to bed at 8:30pm and then two nights a week, I am on trainings for my health coaching business for about an hour. The evenings I am not on trainings, I spend time with my husband and always end my night with a good book before going to sleep around 10pm. As you can see I do not have a 9-5 job. I set my day up around what matters most in my life and I have made a career in doing so.
How did you get your current job in dietetics?
In 2012, while I was working in an outpatient office for Columbia Doctors, I was asked to become a certified health coach with Optavia, a comprehensive wellness program. I just had my first child and was looking to work more hours, but from home instead of in an in-office setting. Recently, due to the pandemic, I had to leave my job at Columbia Doctors and work as a certified health coach full-time. I was blessed that I had this option, so the transition wasn’t as daunting. I am also the owner of my own business, Eating Healthy 4 Life, which I began January 2020. Right when this business started gaining momentum the pandemic hit, so I could not see patients face-to-face and that affected the amount of patients I was seeing. When it came to health coaching with Optavia, my business was not affected at all during the pandemic because I was already working with my clients virtually and by phone. If anything, my business thrived because people wanted an easy program to follow during these not so easy times.
What skills were you born with and what skills have you learned along the way?
I was born with major organizational skills and have always been a good listener. What I have learned along the way is to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. When you feel uncomfortable, you grow as a person. I have learned to speak my mind, to take more risks, to think outside the box, and to take the path less traveled at times. When I was younger, I always did what was expected of me and never strayed from that. I don’t feel as if I pushed myself or took many risks and that will only get you so far. When I was in my mid-20s, I was willing to dream and take some risks in order to really achieve my goals and that is when things started falling into place.
What advice do you have for others wanting to be just as successful and fulfilled as you?
Dream a little or even a lot! You have one life to live and it’s okay to take risks and follow your dreams. You do not have to have a typical “job”. What you need to do is sit down and think of what you want your life to look like in 5, 10, 20 years from now and then set small goals in order to achieve them. If you don’t have a plan, chances are, your goals will never be achieved. Also, live your life around what matters most. For me this is my family, friends, and my career. I do not have to sacrifice one for the other and that is extremely important to me. Finally, don’t forget about yourself. Self-care is key. Proper nutrition/hydration, a healthy mind, healthy surroundings, and stress management are all things I coach my clients on and I make sure that these are present in my life as well.
If you could be paid for your job with something other than a paycheck, what
would it be?
I know this may sound cliché for a dietitian, but I would like to be paid in food! Healthy food, that is. I love to eat and I love to cook. We have a garden at our home and the food from there is so much better than a supermarket, so I would like to be paid in farm fresh produce!
