Meet Nazirber De La Cruz, RDN, CDN, CDE, who is bilingual in Spanish and English and helping people reach their health, wellness, and nutrition goals in the US and in the Dominican Republic. Learn how she is building her nutrition practice internationally. - Sarah

What attracted you to the field of nutrition and dietetics? 
I found dietetics online while I was a nursing student at York College/CUNY.

During my first two years of college I was enrolled in the nursing program. When I started doing my clinicals, I quickly realized that I did not want to be in a hospital doing all the great but challenging work nurses do. It was clear to me that I had to change my path. At the time, I knew that I wanted to be in healthcare doing something that would allow me to be in the field, but not in a hospital setting. I search online and found that nutrition was an actual career in healthcare and that it also combined two things that I really liked – food and health. So, I continued searching and found that becoming a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist was going to set me apart. The following semester I transferred to Lehman College/CUNY as a nutrition student.

Your Job Title?

Author, blogger, and coach at MyFitBytes®

Integrative Registered Dietitian Nutritionist at Elmhurst Digestive and Liver Diseases

Bilingual Certified Diabetes Educator at Cecelia Health

Company you are with now?

MyFitBytes®

Elmhurst Digestive and Liver Diseases

Cecelia Health

Website:

MyFitBytes.com

ElmhurstGI.com

Social Media:

Instagram:@MyFitBytes

Describe a typical (or not so typical) day-in-the-work-life for you?
My days are never typical. But usually I get to my office at Elmhurst Digestive and Liver Diseases around 9am and see patients until noon. If it is a weekday, I probably see mostly adults and if I am working on a Saturday, I see kids. Most of the patients that I see are Spanish-speaking immigrants who are sent to me by physicians in the neighborhood or they find me online. Many come to see me for weight management, hypertension, IBS, SIBO, diabetes, fatty liver, nutrition during pregnancy, etc. or just for general healthy eating. 

At noon I go home (this is where I try to incorporate most of my walking/exercise) and cook a meal before I start working remotely as a CDE for Cecelia Health. If I don’t have yoga class scheduled in the afternoon, sometimes I see 1 or 2 private clients from back home (Dominican Republic) for nutrition counseling. 

Everyday changes, but more or less my work happens between my office in Queens in the mornings and at home in the afternoons.

How did you get your current job in dietetics?
My first (and current) job as an RD was in private practice with a fantastic and smart gastroenterologist in Queens, NY. A friend whom I met in college while she was a dietetic intern and I was a research assistant in the same lab she was doing a rotation, was working with this GI doctor as an outpatient RD and wanted to move back into inpatient clinical nutrition. She (and everyone) who knew me was aware that my ultimate goal was to have my own office and work with Spanish-speaking immigrants. So, my friend contacted me and asked if I wanted to take on her position at the GI office. After meeting with the doctor and letting him know what I wanted, we decided to join forces and started building my private practice out of his GI office. Three years later (and a few bumps in the road), my practice was busy enough so quit my full-time outpatient work at the beginning of 2019.

In Spring 2018, I started my blog MyFitBytes.comwith the intention to shed light into the many struggles my Spanish speaking community faces today with poor eating habits, sedentariness, and access to true and authentic education around nutrition. My blog is mostly in Spanish so my clients can get educated and empowered around nutrition and start having an active lifestyle. Blogging also helped expand my business back home, so I registered MyFitBytes®as a brand to be able to provide integrative nutrition coaching to clients in the Dominican Republic. 

In Winter 2018, right before I quit my outpatient job, Cecelia Health was looking to launch their bilingual CDE coaching line which fit perfectly for me as I was leaving my CDE/RD outpatient job and this was a great opportunity to continue to work as a CDE. I contacted them and got hired a few weeks later.

Today, I work remotely as a Certified Diabetes Educator and bilingual blogger for CeceliaHealth.comin both English and Spanish, run my private practice with a Gastroenterologist at ElmhurstGI.com, and provide private consultations to clients in the Dominican Republic at MyFitBytes.com.

What skills were you born with and what skills have you learned along the way?
I think something that comes natural to me is speaking with compassion. I have learned that communication and listening skills are key components of successful counseling. Communication and listening skills are things that you learn with practice and everyone can make very good use of it, personally and professionally. 

What advice do you have for others wanting to be just as successful and fulfilled as you?
Learn to ask for what you want early on. If I had not said to the GI doctor these exact words “I want to work with you and not for you” maybe my story with private practice would have been different today.   

If you don’t like your current present, change it. If there is no route to where you want to go, make it. Success is different for everyone and you will only achieve success when you know exactly what is it that you want out of life. Maybe you don’t know it yet, and that is fine. Keep searching. Look around with purpose and you will find your path to success.

If you could be paid for your job with something other than a paycheck, what  would it be?
Make a documentary series with my partner in the Dominican Republic highlighting the many great humanitarian agencies that are fighting malnutrition/undernutrition around the island. Then create an online nutrition fund so people can donate to a cause they feel more connected to.