Meet Maxine Yeung, MS, RD, CPT, NBC-HWC, who has the best of both worlds when it comes to providing the best care to her coaching clients while also enjoying the creative side of developing educational content, presentations, and webinars. Maxine works for Crossover Health and has a private practice. It’s fantastic to work with an interdisciplinary team and work for one’s self. Read on to learn how she balances it all from coaching, writing, consulting, and private practice. - Sarah

What attracted you to the field of nutrition and dietetics?
I was first attracted to the field of nutrition in college when I took an introductory nutrition class while also on the crew team. The more I watched my friends struggle balancing their nutrition and being physically competitive, the more I wanted to understand how food fuels the body.

Unfortunately, at the time, there was no undergraduate program to pursue, and I moved forward with getting a business degree and later working in the fine dining industry as a pastry cook.

As I moved away from cooking and more into restaurant administration, I realized I wasn’t as happy as I was working directly with food.

I was in limbo with what I wanted to do next, and through research discovered NYU’s nutrition and dietetics graduate program.

Something just clicked. I remembered my curiosity about studying nutrition from many years before and was excited to learn about dietitians and the many career opportunities.

This potential new career seemed to fulfill my key interests: to help people, return to working with food in some capacity, and have a variety of job options in the future without having to entirely switch careers.

Your Job Title?
Dietitian and Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach

Company you are with now?
Crossover Health and The Wellness Whisk

Website:

wellnesswhisk.com

Social Media:

- Instagram: @wellnesswhisk

- LinkedIn: MaxineYeungRD

Describe a typical (or not so typical) day-in-the-work-life for you?
Each day is a little different. Before the pandemic, I used to go into an office, though now I work full-time from home.

I typically start my day at 8:00am with a virtual interdisciplinary team meeting, which I really appreciate because I get to begin with a bit of social interaction and conversation before diving into concentrating on work.

While I enjoy working from home, I really miss seeing my colleagues in person every day!

A large portion of my day is spent communicating with patients, either through one-on-one virtual visits, check-in messages or leading a group class.

My teammates (including physical therapists, chiropractors, therapists, doctors and more) and I also touch base to discuss our collaborative care approach for shared patients.

For the rest of the day, I am in meetings and working on a variety of projects ranging from ones specific to health coaching to larger health programs for the company.

My favorite tasks involve creating educational content, such as presentations, webinars or handouts for company clients or colleagues. Since being a teacher’s assistant in graduate school, I have always dreamed of teaching and giving lectures to a larger audience, and am fortunate to be able to do so with my current position.

Outside of seeing patients and working on projects at my 8-5 job, I also run a small private practice, write and contribute to articles for health and wellness publications, and am venturing into consulting.

How did you get your current job in dietetics?
I began my career working as a clinical dietitian in hospitals in New York City, though never felt fully satisfied because I was unable to build long term relationships with my patients since they were usually in the hospital for just a few days at a time.

When I was at Montefiore Medical Center, I started volunteering for events hosted by the Associate Wellness Dietitian, meaning she was the dietitian for all of the hospital employees.

The more I learned about worksite wellness, the more I wanted to be involved and jumped at the chance when my hospital was hiring a second wellness dietitian.

I quickly fell in love with creating programs and events for the hospital, and counseling in an outpatient setting, really getting to know my patients and be by their side on their health journeys.

Overtime, it became really apparent that people’s relationships with food are so much more than just about food. I started learning more about how exercise, sleep, work-life balance, stress and other life factors affect one’s food choices.

Everybody has their unique story, and I loved helping people connect the puzzle pieces of their lives to help them achieve their health and wellness goals. I moved to the Bay Area in California from New York to work at Stanford in one of the first virtual primary care clinics that incorporated Wellness Coaches as part of the care team.

From there I knew I wanted to get into the corporate wellness area and began my position with Crossover.

As for The Wellness Whisk, it’s been my long-term dream of owning my own business and working for myself, so I started my company along the way and have been growing it ever since.

What skills were you born with and what skills have you learned along the way?
I’ve always liked helping others and working hard for the things I love and enjoy (and even those things that aren’t as much fun).

However, I’m naturally shy so I really had to learn about marketing and putting myself out there on social media, referral sites, etc.

I’m also naturally curious, so that has been very helpful in branching out and increasing my knowledge on a variety of topics related to health and wellness.

What advice do you have for others wanting to be just as successful and fulfilled as you?
Stay open-minded. There are so many different jobs that a dietitian can do, and the only way to find out if you will enjoy one is to just try it out - whether you’re getting paid or volunteering.

You never know where your experiences will lead you or who they will connect you with.

Every single dietitian or coaching job I’ve had since my first hospital job has been through networking and sharing my interests.

If you could be paid for your job with something other than a paycheck, what
would it be?
Donations made to food banks across the country! One of my passions is volunteering at local food banks and helping to sort, pack and distribute food to those who need it to survive. Now, more than ever, food banks need support to continue to help those who can benefit from their services.