What three words would you use to describe yourself?
An absolute overthinker, a mixture of stubborn/ambitious individual and I can say that I am helpful.
What is your professional career like? What were and are important stations in your life?
I have started my bachelor’s degree at Yeditepe University, İstanbul and graduated in 2014. After finishing Bachelor’s degree, I decided it will not be enough to continue my professional life with only bachelor’s since I still had all kinds of interests to explore and so I became a research assistant at the same university while beginning my first Master’s degree in clinical nutrition.
For almost two years I was a part time clinician at a local clinic while I was still a research assistant. This time period gave me the chance to create a balance between the theoretic (research) and practical (clinical application) aspects of my job. Being a research assistant gave me the habit to look deeper into every topic that I have come across during the clinic days.
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During my university years I have noticed that I am interested with pediatric nutrition and preventive nutrition applications more than any other topic. For this reason, I have started to work as a schools’ dietitian which included all age groups starting from kindergarten to high school. I have improved my nutrition education and consultancy skills with pediatric groups. While I was working, I decided to learn more about the second topic that I am interested in: Phytotherapy, which was a related topic for preventative approaches, and started my second master’s degree in this field.
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To understand how to run a clinic with all aspects like finance, supporting the website with up-to-date content etc. made me start working at a private clinic. The start of my career as a counsellor was not easy and I promoted myself by hanging up posters, putting out flyers and spreading other types of advertisement, which is common here. Most of my clients belonged to pediatric age or pregnant/lactating women group.
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After 5 years of nutrition and consultancy experience I recognized that I would like to dedicate more of my time to the academic life and started my doctorate in nutrition and dietetics. Currently, besides working as a lecturer at Bahçeşehir University, İstanbul, I am a PhD candidate that works on her thesis about the protection potential of the Mediterranean Diet in smoking individuals. The lectures I give should prepare students for a work in nutrition consultancy supporting people with various needs. In addition, other courses in the programme, such as “Medical Nutrition in Adult Disorders” and “Assessment of Nutrition Status” impart the complexities of an adequate nutrition and train their skills in conveying information to clients.
Did you always know that you wanted to do what you are doing today?
Back in my childhood days I was interested in nutrition but not in a scientific way. I was interested with the words like “dieting, calories, etc.” the more commercial-like polished parts of nutrition. I remember that I was reading food labels to make sure their calories are not that high when I was 12 years old. Nowadays, I understand that I was a strong candidate for Orthorexia Nervosa of maybe even for Anorexia Nervosa; luckily, my parents were also health professionals so they prevented these scenarios.
I was always sure that I will be doing something related to health but had a strong communication liking part of me which can be also suitable for social sciences. In this manner Nutrition and Dietetics was a tailored department and career opportunity for me.
What do you appreciate most about your job?
Meeting new people almost every day and learning details about their lives are actually what I most appreciate about my job. When someone is opening up to you they also share their experiences so sometimes you get the chance to understand something without actually living it. This gives you the opportunity to skip some unpleasant experiences and re-shape and share this information with your clients or students to help them. It is like you have a network of experiences that you can always create helpful links from people you work with.
What would you like to give students in your field as a tip?
Changing jobs or fields of interest may look scary but in my opinion it is necessary, especially for the first couple of years after graduation. This will be more eye-opening and helpful to work somewhere they are truly happy in the future.
Get to know different cultures is also very important since the diversity is a blessing of today. In that manner travelling and studying abroad opportunities should never be missed.
Finally, you can never know too much when it comes to health sciences so they always need to follow scientific databases to keep themselves up-to-date with accurate knowledge.
