RDN Spotlight: Janice Chow, MS, RD
What is your ethnicity/race? Did your family have any customs related to food? Please describe.
Hong Kong Chinese. My family usually eats Cantonese food and we celebrate Chinese festivals. Dishes with food symbolism are often eaten during festivals. For example, having a whole fish during Lunar New Year signifies abundance.
Where/when did you go to undergrad/dietetic internship/grad school?
Undergrad - UC Berkeley
Grad school - Tufts University
Dietetic Internship - Frances Stern Nutrition Center at Tufts Medical Center
Why did you decide to choose nutrition and dietetics as a career?
I grew up living with my grandma, and she taught me everything about food - how to cook, how to choose ingredients and how to provide healing and care through food. It cultivated my interest in food early on, and the passion to help others. During college, I majored in pre-med with hopes of becoming a doctor, thinking that will allow me to help more people. At that time, I had to take a general education prerequisite and nutrition was an option. It sounded interesting because it combined my interest in food and science. After I took that class, I became more interested to help others understand how nutrition impacts health and how food plays a significant role in our daily lives. Since then, I changed to dietetics major and the rest is history!
What do you do now as an RDN and what does a typical day/week look like for you?
I have my own private practice now and it's very new! There's no a typical day/week anymore because it varies a lot. Here are some examples of what happens in my practice: having 1:1 client sessions, attending webinars or supervision groups, checking my invoices, troubleshooting my EMR system, connecting with fellow RDs or other clinicians, etc.
What is/was the biggest challenge for you in becoming a dietitian and how did you overcome that challenge? This can be related to being an RD of color or not just any challenge?
One of the biggest challenges was trying to find a job in the US as an international student. I came to US to pursue my education as an international student, and we are required to have work visas in order to stay and work legally. It's very challenging to find employers willing to provide a work visa due to the following reasons: cost of applying for work visa (institutions may not have the $ or they prefer to have lower cost when they hire a local student), changes in immigration laws (lottery for work visas, quota per year), etc. Often times, even if we are able to find organizations that will go through visa application, we are left with options such as working in remote areas or non-conventional settings. While a lot of these factors are out of our control, the system is discouraging for foreign students who want to stay in the US as skilled workers. In my case, it took me at least 5 months of applying and getting rejection non-stop before I landed my first job. I wouldn't say I overcame the challenge by myself, because there were many other factors that were beyond my control. Many international students have to leave the US because the visa situation cannot work out. I was fortunate that my first employer went through the visa application for me, and it opened the door for my work opportunities in the US.
Have you had any mentors in your career if yes how have those mentors affected your career/life?
No, unfortunately not. I struggled to find mentors who shared similar lived experiences (immigrants or international students), which is almost 10 years ago. Back then it wasn't common to be a foreign student in the US, as it is nowadays.
Why do you think diversifying this field is important?
Diversifying dietetics is important because it should reflect the diverse communities we serve in the US. It allows more professionals with different cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, preferences, abilities and orientations, to be present. They are able to relate to the communities with similar lived experiences, and offer expertise and compassionate care that pertain to those identities. In addition, diversifying will help our industry to remain open-minded to different experiences and drive for reflections and changes in our field.
What is a piece of advice you would give a student of color interested in entering the field of dietetics?
Your culture and experiences are valuable! And learning is a lifelong journey, so continue to stay open-minded :)