Personal Statement
I was sixteen when I first noticed how people come to understand their bodies. I remember drafting an email to a feminist media studio I admired, unsure whether anyone would respond. I told them I wanted to learn how narratives—especially those about women’s bodies—shape the way people see themselves. They invited me to join their team. In that small studio, I helped create content that challenged limiting beauty standards and encouraged women to view their bodies with dignity rather than judgment. I did not realize it then, but that experience became the foundation of how I understand nutrition today: as something shaped not only by biology, but also by the stories people inherit.
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Years later, as I began strength training and learning more about nutrition, I started noticing those stories in new places. I saw how cultural expectations—what we are told a “strong” body should look like, what we learn is “healthy,” and how we believe we should behave around food—quietly influence the choices people make. Understanding this helped me approach health with more nuance and compassion. It made me more attentive to the emotional and social layers behind eating behaviors and exercise patterns, both in myself and in the people around me.
Friends began asking me for guidance on lifting routines or nutrition habits. I found myself listening closely—not just to their goals, but to the beliefs underneath them. Together, we built routines that supported their well-being rather than restricting it. During the process of supporting them, I started to realize that when people feel understood, they relate to their bodies with more steadiness. That was when I knew nutrition could be a meaningful form of connection and empowerment.
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My academic training at UC Davis helped me turn that intuition into a professional foundation. Through the Clinical Nutrition major and the NUT116 series, I learned how to conduct nutrition assessments, interpret labs, develop medical nutrition therapy plans, and communicate evidence with clarity and empathy. My nutrition courses from undergraduate and graduate expanded my understanding of how systems, environments, and daily realities shape health behaviors. It was during a graduate course interview with a patient that my commitment to clinical nutrition deepened. Their symptoms partly aligned with what we had learned in class—but not entirely. That conversation reminded me that while science offers patterns, individuals bring nuance. It made me realize that I want to work directly with patients, where I can bring together physiology, empathy, and practicality to support people through the realities of their daily lives. These experiences taught me that nutrition care must be both scientifically grounded and attentive to individual lived experience.
Research definitely added another dimension to that understanding. In Dr. Bo Lönnerdal’s lab, I studied the iron-binding capacity of lactoferrin in infant formula, which taught me the importance of detail and the complexity of biochemical processes. At the FDA’s NARMS Program, I examined antimicrobial resistance in retail meats, learning how microbiology, public health, and food safety intersect. Now, as a master’s student in Dr. Kimberly O’Brien’s lab at Cornell, I study dietary iron intake and its relationship to biomarkers of iron status across diverse populations. This work strengthened my ability to interpret data in a way that stays connected to real human health.
Outside academics, six years of strength training have shaped my perspective on health. Exercise has taught me patience, adaptability, and the importance of habits that honor the body’s long-term well-being. I hope to specialize in sports nutrition and am preparing for the NASM personal training certification to better integrate movement science into my future practice.
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I am drawn to the Dietetic Internship because it mirrors the balance I value—rigorous scientific training paired with human-centered care. Its interdisciplinary approach, emphasis on leadership, and commitment to community health align with the dietitian I aspire to become - someone who understands both the physiology of the body and the narratives people carry within it.
My goal is to complete the DI and become a Registered Dietitian working in clinical and community settings, eventually specializing in sports nutrition. In the long term, I hope to help individuals strengthen their relationship with food, movement, and their bodies—guiding them toward health that feels both grounded and sustainable.
A decade ago, I wrote to a feminist studio because I wanted to understand the stories people inherit about their bodies. Today, I hope to join the Dietetic Internship so I can help people rewrite those stories with evidence-based care, compassion, and respect.