Alumna Shelby Rodriguez’s turn from ballet to nutrition and dietetics.
After starting her career as a professional ballet dancer, Shelby Rodriguez faced a turning point. Knowing she wanted a new path that directly addressed nutrition issues, she turned to UNC Greensboro’s School of Health and Human Sciences to pursue a B.S. in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, a choice that helped her become board-certified specialist in gerontological nutrition.
“I don’t think another institution could have been as supportive as UNCG for an alternative student while really maintaining a huge emphasis on academics and professional preparation,” Rodriguez says.
A Dancer’s Motivation and a Professor’s Support
A high school graduate of the UNC School of the Arts, Rodriguez never intended to go to college. Instead, she began her career as a professional ballet dancer in Pennsylvania.
“A lot of my colleagues in dance really struggled with eating disorders and mistaken ideas about nutrition,” she says. “I wanted to understand more about that.”
She first took community college courses and then transferred to UNCG’s human nutrition and dietetics program.
“I wasn’t quite aware of the competitiveness and academic rigor the program had in store for me, but I’m really grateful that’s where I landed,” she says. “UNCG is incredibly supportive of transfer students. I never felt like an outsider, I was immediately welcomed by instructors, professors, and other students—the entire community.”
Rodriguez credits her mentor Professor Keith Erickson with supporting her through the program.
“My mother was battling breast cancer while I was taking his microbiology course,” Rodriguez says. “He proctored a final exam for me at 6 a.m. so I could get on a flight and go see my mother before she passed. Since then, he’s kept in touch and it just demonstrates the student-first approach I felt while I was with UNCG.”
Pandemic Professional Shift
Rodriguez went on to earn her master’s in public health at the University of Minnesota.
“I was in the middle of my dietetic internship when COVID 19 hit,” she says.
She and her fellow interns were part of a group that helped administer the first COVID vaccines. With jobs for new dietitians scarce at the end of the pandemic, Rodriguez went out on a limb and applied for a position as lead dietitian for patients in a long-term care and skilled rehabilitation facility in Eugene, Ore.
“My husband and I moved to Oregon sight unseen for this new job, newly pregnant while in the middle of a pandemic,” she says. “It amazingly has all worked out.”
During her 2,000 hours of specialty practice with the rehabilitation facility, Rodriguez treated patients across the spectrum, with issues ranging from complex health problems to physical trauma to the unique needs of the geriatric population. Following her maternity leave, she sat for her board exam in gerontological nutrition.
“I wanted to be the best dietitian I could be for my patients,” she says. “The board specialty opened up a lot of doors to what I’m doing now on a national scale as a fellow for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.”
Be Brave and Say Yes
In her current role she serves as one of two gerontological nutritional specialists on the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics national board where she reviews new procedures and certifications, exam requests and more.
“I’m currently the lead developer for their new certificate for end-of-life nutrition,” she says.
She is president-elect of the Oregon Academy of Nutrition and Dietetic and teaches nutrition at Lane Community College. She and her husband are still in Eugene raising their daughter, now age 4.
“Dietitians are becoming more integral members of interdisciplinary health care teams and finding roles in non-clinical settings,” Rodriguez says. “My advice to students: allow yourself to be flexible and not too rigid in your expectations for your career in the field. Be brave and see where new opportunities may take you.”
Written by Alice Manning Touchette
Photography courtesy of Shelby Rodriguez
