Meet Heather Mangieri, MS, RDN, CSSD, who is an incredible powerhouse dietitian. I originally met Heather when she was working with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics as a media spokesperson and she is a force to be reckoned with. Her vast knowledge of sports nutrition and disordered eating, among other niches, has excelled her career and contributes to her status as the go-to person for sports dietetics. She has a thriving private practice and consulting firm and works with many brands, universities, sports teams, corporations, and more. Check out how she started her career path and where she is today. I love her quotes that she has shared, too. - Sarah

What attracted you to the field of nutrition and dietetics?
I became interested in Nutrition after taking a physiology class at Penn State. I loved learning about the body systems. I wanted to do something that promoted science, health and wellness, but I did not want to work with blood, so nursing and medicine were both out. I took a nutrition class and volunteered in the nutrition research lab under one of my professors. I was hooked!

Your Job Title?

Sports and Wellness Dietitian

Food, Fitness & Nutrition Consultant

Company you are with now?
My company – Heather Mangieri Nutrition

Website:
https://heathermangieri.com

Social Media:

- Pinterest: @heathermangieri

- Instagram: @heathermangieri

- Facebook: HeatherMangieriRDN

- Twitter: @heathermangieri

- YouTube: HeatherMangieriRDN

Describe a typical (or not so typical) day-in-the-work-life for you?
My work is evenly split between counseling, consulting and my own blog, so each day is different.

I have office hours on Mondays and Tuesdays, so those two days are reserved for seeing clients either in my office or virtually. Today, most of my private clients are young athletes or teenagers with disordered eating.

Wednesday is an office day, used to get caught up on paper work, emails, phone calls, etc. that I didn’t get to on Monday or Tuesday. I schedule media interviews, meetings, new client calls, etc. this day. It’s also the day that I schedule any of my personal appointments, like if I have to go to the dentist.

Thursdays and Friday are reserved for my consulting projects and my own writing. What I do varies from day to day and week to week, based on what projects I’m working on. One week I might spend Thursday in my office reading research all day long, then spend Friday writing an article. Another week, I might be in my kitchen creating a new recipe or filming a video for a client. A lot of my consulting work involves content creation or reviewing/editing content for credibility and accuracy. A lot of my time is spent in my office – planning, reading, writing and reviewing but I try to leave at least one weekday for recipe development, food styling/photography or video creation.

I love what I do and get excited about writing new content, especially for my own blog. Even when I’m not technically working, I’m thinking of new ideas and ways to create and share content. I travel a lot, and many of my articles have been written from the passenger seat of the car or on an airplane in route to a vacation spot. When you love it as much as I do, it doesn’t feel like work.

How did you get your current job in dietetics?
My current job is a collection of all of the many positions that I held over the years. I’m still a sports dietitian, but after writing my book, Fueling Young Athletes, I shifted from working with athletes one-on-one to doing more consulting. Companies, organizations, sports teams, etc. hire me to help them develop programs and produce evidence-based content for their businesses.

I also work as a spokesperson, helping national brands and commodity groups bring their brand and products to life, and as a trusted source of nutrition information for the media. That work came from working as a national media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics for over 8 years.

What skills were you born with and what skills have you learned along the way?
I was definitely born a curious, critical thinker. I was the kid that asked all the annoying questions and wasn’t satisfied until I had proof. I loved science and even as a kid, I wanted to gather all of the evidence and form a conclusion. I also have a natural ability to read people and have always had good instinct. I’ve always believed that those two things make me a good nutrition counselor – especially when working with disordered eating clients.

Skills I didn’t have, were entrepreneurial skills – and everything that goes with it. I was the farthest thing from a sales or marketing person you could be. In fact, I hated both fields. They always seemed slimy and filled with lies. I had a ton to learn about both!

What advice do you have for others wanting to be just as successful and fulfilled as you?
I have a few pieces of advice. First, take something from every single job you have – good and bad. I started my practice after having worked in all areas of nutrition – long term care, clinical, pregnancy, academia, food service, marketing and communications, etc. Every single job taught me something and gave me the confidence to take on just about any consulting opportunity that comes my way. If you hate your job, it can be hard to find something positive about it. But, there always is!

For example, I hated being a food service supervisor at a hospital, but I am so grateful for that opportunity. It taught me how to create meal plans and menus within state and federal guidelines. It also taught me how to feed the masses, especially a sports team, within their food budget. It gave me a ton of knowledge that I would have never learned otherwise.

My dietary manager position at a long-term care facility taught me how to manage employees, create compliant menus, budget, complete MDS and care plans. I’ve gotten great paying consulting jobs because I had those skills. My clinical work gave me hands on experience with medical nutrition therapy, like diabetes, GI issues, rare disorders, assessing labs, etc. It exposed me to a wide-range of diseases and disorders, and gave me the experience to work with any athlete that might have a condition. While I knew I didn’t want to work in hospital my entire life, I used the time to learn as much as I could. I started osteoporosis classes at the hospital; started a cardiac rehab nutrition class; learned and spent time in the cardia rehab lab getting firsthand knowledge with Vo2max, treadmill tests, cardiopulmonary medicine, etc. Those experiences all make me a better sports dietitian.

My other advice is to always be kind, supportive and network, network, network. I spent so much of my early career interacting and learning from veteran dietitians. I volunteered with DPG’s and the Academy and really got my name out there. Now, I have friends and colleagues in the field around the globe that support me and help me spread my messages. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

If you could be paid for your job with something other than a paycheck, what
would it be?
Travel vouchers, airline miles, hotel points or anything that supports my passion for visiting new places!