It's All About You: Sharpening Retail Dietitian Business Skills
Annette Maggi, MS, RD, LD, FADA
RDBA Executive Director
Registered dietitians (RD) bring expertise in nutrition, behavior change, and consumer education to the retail space. They’re a trusted and authoritative voice in traditional and social media as well as with consumers, colleagues and grocery employees. Food manufacturers look to RDs as an important partner. As the retailers’ impact on public health and consumer engagement in health and wellness continues to emerge, retail nutrition professionals will rise to new leadership levels with their companies, their industry, and their communities.
RDBA believes, in fact, that an RD will one day hold the position of retail CEO.
To gain this level of success both professionally and for their company, RDs would benefit from building and sharpening their business skills. The Retail Dietitians Business Alliance (RDBA) is committed to this goal. Our mission is to foster the continuing business education and career development of current and future retail dietitians by providing a comprehensive retail business education.
We’ve defined five pillars of education to help retail RDs advance their careers:
- Business skills including leadership development, managing upward, and negotiations;
- Communications expertise in media, social media, and an understanding of how to truly influence;
- Career Development in interviewing, salary negotiations, and creating new opportunities within the retail sector;
- Retail Industry Insights addressing retail financials, return-on-investment, category management, and working effectively with suppliers; and
- Trends from the business side of the house.
Over the next several months, retail RDs will be introduced to our education offerings. They’ll be offered through newsletter articles, white papers, case studies, webinars, in-person trainings, and business mentorship programs. In the long term, we’re working to offer a first-of-its-kind retail business certification program for RDs. Additionally, we’ve established a final education pillar focused on helping retail executive leadership understand the role RDs can play in driving business success in health and wellness in the grocery industry.
The dietetics profession is driven against continuous learning and RDBA is committed to taking this education in a whole new direction.
