From the desk of Maree Ferguson
Founder and Director , Dietitian Connection
One of my core values ( and that of Dietitian Connection ) is collaboration , which involves reflecting on and celebrating our successes . So , I ’ m taking a moment to revel in all that we ’ ve achieved in reaching :
• Our 10th ( yes , 10th !) birthday – more on that in a second .
• Our 3rd annual Malnutrition Week ANZ ( MWANZ ) campaign , which you can learn more about overleaf .
It ’ s been 11 years since I was having a midlife crisis in 2011 , about to turn 40 the following year . I attended the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo ( FNCE ® ), and Jack Canfield was speaking about his book , The Success Principles . I clearly remember him saying that if you write down your goals , they are more likely to come true – and so that day I wrote down that I wanted to start my own business . A short time later , in September 2012 at the International Congress of Dietetics in Sydney , Dietitian Connection ( or DC , as we affectionately call it in-house ) was born . My goal was - and still is to this day - to inspire and empower young dietitians to achieve their professional dreams … a legacy I hope to leave for the dietetic profession .
When I started DC , I could never have imagined it would become what it is today . More than 40,000 dietitian members across 45 countries make up our dietitian community , and I want to thank each and every one of you , from the bottom of my heart , because you have all played a part in the DC journey .
Thank you to the DC dream team – Dr Jane Winter and Andrea Mortensen ( who were both clients first !), Melissa Meier , Tegan Stuckey , Emma Fabian , Emily Fitt , Alicia Mizzi , Sarah Bramah and Angelo De Blasio . I would never have thought 10 years ago that DC would have team members scattered all over Australia in Brisbane , Sydney , Melbourne and Adelaide . I am so grateful to my amazing , talented team for choosing to work at DC . They put their heart and soul into DC and go above and beyond every single day .
A very special thanks to Kate Agnew , who was with DC from 2016 to 2021 . Kate made significant contributions to building DC , including starting the DC podcast and conceptualising our inaugural Gut Health Month . I have such special memories of our time together when it was just the two of us in a tiny shoebox office . I still don ’ t know how we managed to pull off major events like Dietitians Unite and Foodsetters all on our own !
© Dietitian Connection 2 Infuse | October 2022