RDN Spotlight: Tamika Forkner, MS, RD, LD
What is your ethnicity/race? Did your family have any customs related to food? Please describe.
Black/African-American. The family usually got together at the dining room table for holidays. Most other days were grab and disperse to respective areas in the home. I grew up helping my mother in the kitchen as well as helping my father in his gardens.
Where/when did you go to undergrad/dietetic internship/grad school?
University of Southern MS for grad school and internship, 2004-2008
Why did you decide to choose nutrition and dietetics as a career?
I have always believed that food was nutrition, medicine, and comfort. I know that education empowers people and nutrition education was lacking in most communities, specifically marginalized. I wanted to be a part of that conversation, that teaching. I knew that nutrition-related chronic conditions could be prevented/managed with food/diet.
What do you do now as an RDN and what does a typical day/week look like for you?
Currently, I am a Clinical Dietitian at a local hospital and a Renal Dietitian at a local dialysis clinic. I also accept clients as part of my private practice.
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?
My biggest challenge has been imposter syndrome. I exist in a large Black body and I reject diet culture. I have had to walk into every job and every room with the idea that I have to prove myself. I also had to accept the fact that most of my teachings in school would not serve me in my career. Yes, the science behind what we do is one thing. Relating to clients, understanding culture, divesting from diet culture is another. My schooling has not always served me in my career. I have learned just as much from my clients as they learn from me. I carry this knowledge with me and I am always open to learning with each client.
Have you had any mentors in your career if yes how have those mentors affected your career/life?
I found mentors in my peers recently. Social media has allowed me to connect with a group of awesome, talented, magical Black RDs. Most younger than me, however, I look up to them with such admiration. I found this group at a time when I was a bit disenchanted with dietetics. My love of the field was renewed when I was invited into a circle of Black RD that look and think like me, same struggles as me, same outlook on nutrition as me, etc. It is refreshing and I am grateful we have committed to extending support to each other in this field that fails to acknowledge and/or actively address its lack of diversity and inclusion.
Why do you think diversifying this field is important?
Dietetics is not cookie cutter. There is no one blueprint for nutrition. America's standard of beauty (white, thin) has nothing to do with most of us. This same standard of beauty dictates a way of eating that contributes to eating disorders every day. Diversity and Inclusion go beyond race/ethnicity. We need to see more representation of larger bodies, a variety of ethnic cuisines, low-income options, the acknowledgment of racial/income disparity, etc.
What is a piece of advice you would give a student of color interested in entering the field of dietetics?
Receive the education given and think about how that translates to your community and people that look like you. Understand that your life experience is part of your knowledge base. The textbooks are not your only source of information. Take what you learn, but also allow your clients to be your "continuing education".