Suzanne Ousey

I'm going to have to say my people skills. I just have a skill that God has blessed me with, an amazing ability to be able to work with people and get them to understand, even if they don't want to. It's truly an art, and I don't think I've noted how valuable that is until I've gotten older and kind of sat in a room and been like, you know, I got that, I know how to fix this. I'm also neurodivergent, as they say these days. I grew up since I was a little kid being somebody with dyslexia and attention deficit disorder, and nobody knew what that was when I was a teenager or when I was a kid. So I had to adapt my ability to navigate life without being labeled, on my terms, and my mantra was nobody's gonna know that I'm stupid or that I'm less than. I think that it allowed me to read a room, it allowed me to look at people, it gave me another sense of how to operate on cues so that I could catch up. When there's a shortcoming in one direction, there's an enhancement in another.

The best career advice I’ve ever received is simple but powerful: don’t take things personally. In professional environments, challenges, feedback, and even setbacks are often part of a larger process, not a reflection of my value or abilities. Learning to separate emotion from situation has allowed me to stay focused, objective, and solution-oriented, even in difficult moments. It has strengthened my resilience, improved my decision-making, and helped me maintain strong, respectful relationships. By not internalizing every obstacle, I’ve been able to grow, lead with clarity, and remain committed to continuous improvement.

Network, educate yourself, be a lifelong learner and invest in that. Know as much as you can about so many things and feel comfortable in that. Make friends in the industry, volunteer. When I first became a registered dietitian, I went to all the meetings I could go to, I introduced myself to everybody, I talked to vendors, I wanted to learn about all of their stuff. I was like a sponge, I just wanted to know all of it so that I could apply it to what I did. And I wasn't afraid to ask questions. I think a lot of young people today are afraid to ask a question because they think somebody's gonna say, oh, that's a stupid question, and I know that because they always start the questions with me, this might be a stupid or silly question. Don't apologize. Questions are the gateway to advancing your practice, the gateway to understanding, and it also shows your vulnerability. People dig vulnerability, they like to know that they're not the only person in the room that's scared.

The biggest challenge is the shortage of people in our field. The academy decided that every dietitian needs to have a master's degree, and so we now are facing a large deficit of registered dietitians due to that change in professional status. Right now we're looking at an extreme shortage and it's affecting the ability to serve, which is something that we've never had before, ever. It takes a lot to unearth people that want to work in this arena of work. The other biggest challenge is unqualified people practicing in my arena when they don't know what they're talking about, people that make up nutrition quackery without any evidence base and supply the public with that information. They can do some pretty serious harm to people. And then there's the whole issue with semaglutide drugs that have definitely screwed us up, because now people just have to inject themselves and lose weight instead of going to the gym and eating right. Everybody wants a silver bullet when it comes to weight management and health management, and there is no silver bullet. It's really what we teach.

The values most important to me in both my work and personal life are truth, cause no harm, and maintaining grace. I believe truth is the foundation of trust and integrity, guiding how I communicate, make decisions, and show up for others. “Cause no harm” reflects my commitment to being mindful in my actions and words, ensuring that I contribute positively and avoid unnecessary damage in any situation. Keeping grace reminds me to stay composed, respectful, and grounded, even in challenging or high-pressure moments. Together, these principles shape how I lead, how I relate to others, and how I aim to navigate both professional responsibilities and personal relationships.