Today we’d like to introduce you to Breanna Campbell.
Hi Breanna, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I can say that my story honestly starts back in my childhood, where my love for learning science and the ability to apply it to real life started. I grew up in a unique environment where we lived in the suburbs of Denton, Texas, but my parents both had roots in agriculture (ranching and crops), and my dad raises black Angus cattle, owns horses, donkeys, etc. In school, I fell in love with nutrition and wellness, and I pursued education to become a registered dietitian nutritionist at Baylor University and Texas Woman’s University. Looking at trends of African American outcomes, usually being highest among diagnoses or worse statistics of chronic conditions, I genuinely wanted to figure out WHY and HOW I can bring about change for my community. In the nutrition profession, Blacks and Latinos make up a very small portion of dietitians, but our communities are the ones that struggle the most with diet-related conditions, and representation continues to be a thing we struggle with when patients and clients want to meet with someone that knows their background, culture, foods. While, as a profession, we are addressing this with many hands to help meet the needs of society, I decided to take it to social media so I could reach a larger audience than just the patients at my work or just one-on-one. One thing that I am big on is prevention and eating for health rather than depending on medications or fighting for your life later on. We used to be very connected with where our food came from, preparing our own meals and having options for quality food, and slowly, over the years, it has slowly changed to a convenience and processed foods lifestyle, and unfortunately, our health has started to pay for it in the worst of ways.
I dabbled in content creation in 2018 for a little while but took a step back once I had my daughter and further pursued my education to become a board-certified oncology dietitian. As my husband’s career started to become very successful in social media, he kept pushing me to get back out there to share my knowledge and information with social media once again. Now, after my second daughter has allowed me to get full nights of sleep again lol, I am back at content creation of health and wellness along with family content creation.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road has not been smooth, but I pride myself on how I have always been able to adapt. I have been blessed and have had much favor on education and opportunities to practice in environments that I have. Until later in my career, I have not seen anyone who looked like me as a professor, in fields that I work in, or in my own nutrition practices, so a lot of my journey has been me figuring it out and learning how to navigate without mentorship for targeting my specific communities. After having my first daughter, I took a step back from my own private practice and focused on learning how to become an expert oncology dietitian. Then the pandemic happened, and I completely gave my focus to my patients at a prominent hospital in Dallas. After diving into becoming a better practitioner for my clients and patients, I believed I was ready to get back to helping the DFW community and beyond outside of my role in the health care system, but I then found out I was expecting again, and family became priority until I was able to balance everything once again. God always provides me with what I need to soar, and my church community and family are absolutely amazing, so I had many people encouraging me to get back to my passion of teaching others about holistic health and wellness!
My goal is to be accessible to all who need help, so I am in the process of learning about being covered under health insurance, partnerships with community events, and how I can set aside time to give back to those who want the best for themselves or their families. So, if anyone wants to help me with that, shoot me an email!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I will say I am a nutrition educator ultimately. I may be an expert in cancer nutrition on paper, but as a ranchers daughter, as a mother of two, as a Black woman who is trying to prevent diseases in my family and other families lives, I specialize in sharing how our food that is planted in the ground and prepared can ultimately lead us to quality of life, or it can speed up our way into having diseases that drastically affect how we live and how we experience the world. I love taking science and breaking down how our bodies and nature are designed to survive and how we all can do attainable things to have the best life God has planned for us. We can’t prevent everything, but we can give ourselves a chance to enjoy our health.
I am proud of fighting to be in spaces and advocate for moms who want to do what is best for their families, advocate for those who are told you have a high risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, Cancer, etc., and respond back “this does not have to be our story!”, I advocate for millennials who are discouraged from hearing we are the first generation to have a lower life expectancy, higher cancer rate, higher infertility, and battling with health conditions way earlier than generations before us. I believe God allowed me to be raised in the varying environments so that I can relate with many and be an advocate for a lot of people that would not have this information otherwise. Many times, I found myself as the only one with my background, and instead of feeling lonely or out of place, I’ve learned to bring perspectives that are not at the forefront to those who differ.
What sets me apart is what makes me most proud. I currently am undergoing education as a functional dietitian to bring food and health back to a holistic experience but allow cultures that differ from the standard western experience, to be included. Growing up as a Black rodeo-going, suburb-living child who later went to a private university and graduate school, then employed as the only African American dietitian in every job I had until 2022, I have seen the many gaps and many similarities that people of all cultures, socioeconomic, education levels have. My job is to create nutrition equity so that everyone can improve their health if they are looking to do so.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
I absolutely owe all of my success and circumstances to God and my church. Shoreline City is a great community that pours into me weekly. My church Podcast is always playing and reminding me of what a servant heart looks like and how to best serve my talents to my community. https://open.spotify.com/show/0i7xOqIxigeTnltjsXKywk
With nutrition resources, you have to be SO careful, so I will share evidence-based resources that may help a client:
https://www.cookforyourlife.org/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nutrition-diva/id289338154
https://integrativerd.org/resources/integrative-nutrition-podcast
I read textbooks and boring journals and wouldn’t want to bore you all with those, lol.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/its.breannacampbell
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/breannacampbellrdn
Image Credits
JCI Creatives Pharris Photography
