Honored to be featured in ARC Health and Wellness Community‘s RD Close-Up series. Read the full feature article below:

While Roxana Ehsani, MS, RD, CSSD, LDN, became a sports dietitian for a few reasons, a big one was a milkshake.

One day before cross-country practice her junior year of high school, she drank a delicious Häagen-Dazs ice cream shake right beforehand, but it ruined her run. She clocked in her worst time.

“That moment really stuck with me because it was such a clear example of how what you eat directly affects how you feel and perform,” Ehsani said.

Since then, she’s had a diverse dietetics career, starting in a clinical setting as a hospital intern, jumping to working as a sports dietitian for pros and university athletic departments, becoming a retail dietitian, media spokesperson and writer. She credits her time working as a retail dietitian for Giant Food as one of her absolute favorite and most pivotal career roles. Retail dietetics is also where Ehsani caught the media bug. She filmed her very first TV segment as a retail RD a decade ago, which sparked a passion that eventually led her to become a national media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and launch her own successful nutrition communications business.

Today, whether she’s developing recipes, writing for EatingWell, teaching sports nutrition at Virginia Tech or prepping for her next live TV appearance, Ehsani knows firsthand that dietitians have one of the most versatile and impactful jobs. Check out the full interview, below, in this edition of RD Close Up to uncover her career journey.

Q. Describe your role.

A. I am the owner of my own nutrition media and communications consulting business. I work primarily as a media spokesperson for healthy food brands — whether that’s doing TV segments, creating content for social media and digital platforms, leading cooking classes or speaking at events.

I also work as a recipe developer, nutrition consultant and contributing writer for brands and online publications. In addition, I teach a virtual sports nutrition course at Virginia Tech, my alma mater, and still see a small number of athletes and clients one-on-one.

Q. Why did you want to work in dietetics?

A. Dietetics really brought together everything I’ve always loved. From a young age, I was obsessed with baking. You could either find me at the grocery store picking out ingredients or in the kitchen working on my next creation. I was also very active, and my older brother would drag me outside every day to play sports, which definitely sparked my competitive side.

Because I was so active, I started to notice how what I ate affected how I performed, which made me curious about nutrition early on. For a while, I thought I’d go to culinary or pastry school, but then I took an intro to nutrition class my first semester of college taught by a registered dietitian. I was hooked from day one. It just clicked. I realized dietetics was the perfect blend of food, nutrition and exercise.

Q. Why did you want to work in sports dietetics?

A. I grew up as a competitive athlete and was always part of a team, so performing at my best was really important to me. I experienced firsthand how much nutrition impacts performance. I still remember one day before a high school cross-country practice, I had an ice cream shake right beforehand, and it ended up being one of the worst runs I’ve ever had. That moment really stuck with me because it was such a clear example of how what you eat directly affects how you feel and perform. From there, I became really interested in learning which foods could help me perform at my best and that’s what ultimately led me to sports dietetics.

I also work more in the media space now — which is something I never would have pictured for myself. I used to really dislike public speaking and never imagined I’d be on live TV or teaching a college course. Those were all things that used to feel intimidating to me.

One of my favorite roles before starting my business was working as a retail dietitian for Giant Food grocery stores in Washington, D.C. It was such a fun job and every day was different. I got to work one-on-one with customers, lead store tours and teach in-store and community classes or lead events — and it’s actually where I was first introduced to TV.

I did my very first TV segment in that role 10 years ago, and I was immediately hooked. My boss at the time really valued the fact that through TV, we as RDs could reach and educate thousands of people at once, rather than just one-on-one. What she said really stuck with me, and I learned so much in that position. It really helped shape the path I’m on today.

Q. How did you start your company?

A. About four years ago, I was working for a professional men’s soccer team — which I thought would be my dream job — but it turned out to be not what I had envisioned. At the same time, I had already been working with the media for a few years, forming relationships with reporters, editors and started to work with a few brands.

I was working 6 a.m. – 3 p.m. for my full-time job, then coming home and working the rest of my day and night on my media, recipe development or brand work. It quickly became clear that trying to do both wasn’t sustainable. I also come from a family of entrepreneurs. My parents built their own separate successful businesses. Seeing what they accomplished gave me the confidence to believe I could do the same. So I decided to take a leap, even though I didn’t have it all figured out at the time. I officially launched my business in October 2022 and haven’t looked back since. It’s been the best decision I made in my career to date, and I’m so grateful for all of the opportunities that have come from it.

Q. What do you like about it?

A. I love that every day is different. I don’t only want to be doing one thing; I really enjoy the variety. One day I might be preparing for a TV segment, the next writing an article, filming a recipe video, getting ready to lead a cooking demo or speak at an event. The flexibility is also huge. While I work more now than ever before, I love being my own boss and having the ability to build my schedule and travel when I want. 

Q. What has been the biggest challenge for you as a dietitian working in the industry?

A. One of the biggest challenges of working for yourself is that it’s hard to truly “turn off.” You can always be working, and unlike a traditional job, if you’re not working, you’re not earning. Taking time off can be tough because there’s no built-in PTO. It’s something I’m still learning to balance. 

Q. What is one thing you wish you had known before starting your career in dietetics?

A. That there’s so many opportunities out there for dietitians. I think we are often taught that you must do clinical to start, but I don’t think that’s true. It would’ve been great to get rotations with RDs working in various settings like in PR, retail, consulting for a food brand, sports, etc. 

Q. Has there been anything specific that helped you move forward in your role? 

A. Every role I’ve had has taught me something valuable and helped get me to where I am today. But networking has played a huge role too. I feel so lucky to still be in touch with past professors and my very first boss. Every person I’ve met throughout my career I’ve tried to keep in touch with. 

And I’m so incredibly grateful as an entrepreneur to every person who has ever reached out to me or said yes to one of my pitches or ideas — whether that meant hiring me to develop a recipe, create a handout, film a video or take on a larger project. 

Q. Is there a program or initiative that you are most proud of? 

A. Honestly, I’m most proud of taking the leap to go out on my own. There were so many reasons not to — figuring out and paying for my own health insurance and losing that consistent paycheck. And I won’t pretend it’s been easy. It’s been isolating at times, and there are weeks or months where I feel like I’m constantly hearing “no.” 

A big reason I’ve gotten to explore so many areas of dietetics is that I moved across the country twice to support my boyfriend (now husband) through his medical training. When I met him over a decade ago, I was genuinely happy in my role as a supermarket RD at Giant Food and consulting as the sports RD at Georgetown Athletics. But when he got an opportunity in Las Vegas, it pushed me to start building something of my own. 

In Vegas, I did take a full-time position consulting patients, but on the side I began working as an Academy spokesperson, building out my own website, seeing private patients and learning how to accept insurance. Then, through a full-time role with the LA-based Wonderful Company — which came about during COVID — I learned all about PR and the role of a media dietitian. That role taught me so much and connected me to so many wonderful dietitians I still get to work with today. 

When my husband had the opportunity to go to Miami, Florida, for his fellowship, I started working with a professional sports team while continuing my media work on the side.