This week on the Pursuing Private Practice Podcast, I’ve decided to re-air an episode that was originally out in March with Tamara Melton titled Diversity in Dietetics. 

This issue is so important to our field. With everything going on around the United States with the Black Lives Matter movement, I really do think that we have to start talking about diversity more as providers to support the dieticians that are black in our field. We should be thinking about how we can lift them up and move forward as a profession.

As a white provider, I was silent last week. I wanted to listen and really think about how I could help our profession best move forward. One of the statistics that came across my Instagram feed was that only 2.3% of dietitians are black. I knew the statistic was low, but I honestly did not know just how low it really is. 2.3% is not okay, it’s disgraceful.

It is so important for dietitians to realize that we can have an impact in increasing the diversity in our field. I know that I want to support Diversify Dietetics in this mission, so I am so excited to re-air this episode with Tamara. She gives us so many different things to think about in this episode to help us better support dietitians of color. 

Some of the topics discussed include:

• How Diversify Dietetics is passionate about empowering students and professionals of color to help them become the leaders of the next generation in dietetics.
• Why micro-aggression and unconscious bias can create a barrier to learning and creativity for students of color in all-white learning environments.

For more information, visit https://www.pursuingprivatepractice.com/41