Meet Meg Hagar, MS, RDN, CDN, CLT, CHHP, whose belief in herself has helped her live her dream life and work at her dream job (which she created herself). Her hard work and passion for helping people shows in her successful career. - Sarah



What attracted you to the field of nutrition and dietetics?
I “healed” my first patient in the second grade. One day at lunch, my best friend at the time leaned over to me but sneezed right into my lunch! I offered her a little tidbit my mom had been telling me for years, about the healing and strengthening power of food: “you should eat tons of yellow and orange fruits. They help fight colds!” Low and behold, a few days later my friend had stopped sneezing completely and said she felt a million times better! Now, I’m not claiming that eating more fruits had cured this girl of her illness, we know better than that now, but my point is that I’ve always been attracted to and fascinated by the true healing power of food.

Your Job Title?
Owner/Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

Company you are with now?
I have my own private practice in NYC but I see many patients virtually too. I also do contract work with various companies virtually

Website:

www.megthedietitian.com

Social Media:

- Facebook: megthedietitian

- Instagram: @megthedietitian

Describe a typical (or not so typical) day-in-the-work-life for you?
Oh gosh, well it depends on what day it is! If it is a day where I’m not seeing patients, I typically start my morning with a good breakfast and some cuddles from my bunnies. Then I meditate before I start working. On non-patient days, I typically focus on administrative stuff, social media and content generation and/or any contract projects I’m working on. I’m also taking some classes in functional nutrition so I’ll be working on that as well. Then I break for lunch, where I eat and then either go out for a walk, read a book or meditate again. I spend the later half of the day finishing up whatever project I didn’t get to that morning. Typically I work in increments of 50 minutes on, 10 minutes off. So I’ll work for 50 minutes straight, take a 10 minute break for a walk, stretch, put away the dishes, put in a load of laundry, pet the bunnies, quick dance party, etc and then get back to working for 50 minutes.

On days where I am seeing patients things are pretty much the same but I have more structure, because my appointments are scheduled. I work from home most days but I see clients in person at my office in NYC on Thursdays.

How did you get your current job in dietetics?
I hired myself...haha, just kidding. I actually started seeing just a few patients on the side while I was working full time at a hospital in 2016. I had contracted with two insurances and had probably a total of 3-4 clients I saw periodically outside of my working schedule at the hospital. I grew to really love it. I craved being able to spend time with patients and recommend what I thought was appropriate rather than worrying what the facility regulations or standards were. I wanted to be able to manage my patients the way I wanted to and customize their plan to be truly effective. I also wanted to manage my own schedule. (This certainly doesn’t mean I think other dietitians can’t do this in other settings, I’m just speaking to my own personal experience and the way I work). So when I left my hospital job, I actually started out working part time for another dietitian in her private practice and I continued to see my clients on the side. It was so helpful, because at the time I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue to grow my own practice- it’s a hell of a lot of work! I learned what type of practice I wanted to have and discovered I wanted the flexibility of a mostly virtual practice.

What skills were you born with and what skills have you learned along the way?
I was definitely born with the skills needed to empathize with patients, especially my specialty (digestive and skin issues). I was also born with the ambition of having my own business. When I was a little girl, I wasn’t the one playing Barbie who’s doll was flirting with Ken and planning a wedding, my Barbie was CEO of her own company and kicking ass doing it!

Along the way, communication was a big thing I needed to learn. I’ve never really been a great communicator and when I realized how important that was for successful client-professional relationship I really had to work on it. I’m still working on it, but I’m much better at it now. I also had to learn about setting boundaries and expectations with clients. Some clients will come to you thinking you can wave your magic wand and make their nutrition-related dreams come true. But the truth is that they have to do the work, and setting that expectation from the beginning was hard for me and still is at times.

What advice do you have for others wanting to be just as successful and fulfilled as you?
Get a pet bunny- they’re the best! Kidding, but having a good support system was a must for me. I have big, crazy dreams and in order for those dreams to survive I needed to surround myself with people who believed in me (or bunnies who couldn’t tell me I was being crazy! ;) )

Also- don’t let anybody tell you you can’t do what you crave or what you dream about. In today’s day in age with all the technological advancements I truly believe anything is possible. You just have to put on your problem-solving hat and figure out how to make it happen!

If you could be paid for your job with something other than a paycheck, what
would it be?
Free groceries (seriously, I like that bourgeoisie goat cheese and olives that cost like $9 a pop!)