Ashley Evans from Guard Your Heart is an RD blogger based in Florida.
Ashley started out with a degree in broadcasting and became interested in
nutrition. After much soul searching she
realized she loved nutrition and wanted to become an RD. You can follow her at http://ashleyharperevans.com/, on instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, or Facebook
Why did you decide to become a
blogger?
I decided to start my own blog
in January 2010, long before my journey of becoming a dietitian began. In fact,
it was actually through my blog that I found my true passion for nutrition. I
originally started my blog when my husband and I were living eight hours away
from family and friends as a way to keep in touch and continue to share my life
with them. Over time I found that I was writing more and more about nutrition,
food and recipes than anything else. I wanted to separate myself from the crowd
and not be just another nutrition writer on the internet, therefore, I decided
to return to school in order to become a registered dietitian.
How has this helped your
career?
As the wife of a man that
spends nearly everyday traveling for his job, working a traditional job would
force me to see him very seldom. After graduating from the Mayo Clinic this
past March, while studying for the RD Exam, I spent nearly everyday
brainstorming, researching, praying, listening, and networking trying to figure
out what my career would look like. Did I want to take a traditional job, see
my husband bimonthly and live my life all for my job? Or did I want to carve my
own path, spending time with him, traveling, writing, growing and reaching a
different kind of audience?
I still had my blog and would
write daily, but I didn't really think about using it as the base of my career.
"That's not a job," I would tell myself over and over. But after much
thought, I finally decided that my career path doesn't have to be traditional
despite what society tells me (I even wrote a post about who defines
traditional here), and who says
that work and pleasure can't mix? I love to write (my first degree was in
Communication Arts (Broadcasting/Journalism)), I continue to learn and grow
from my writing, research and readers and over time, I can turn
it into a "job." So I decided to do that. Blogging has now become my
career. Blogging has allowed me to do the things I love, being right where I
need to be. I actually recently started my own business, The Gypsy Dietitian,
LLC and am in the process of converting my blog into a professional website
with online services, meal plans, e-books, etc. So you can see that blogging
has not only helped my career, it has become the base of my career.
What advice do you give to
someone starting out in blogging?
I actually give myself this
piece of advice everyday: just keep going. Success doesn't happen over night
but with hard work and consistency, it will come. Keep looking forward and
never look back. Continue to learn, grow and just keep showing up. Your readers
will know you are there and they will come back to you.
What is your favorite post or
topic?
The great thing about blogging
is that it is your platform, you decide what goes. While I keep the main topic
of my blog nutrition based, somedays other topics are on my heart and I can
share them with my readers too. I wrote a post a few weeks ago the
importance of surrounding ourselves with positive
people and received a lot of great feedback from my readers.
Rereading it, it has become my favorite post and a topic that I am able to
remind myself of everyday. I think it is very important to be real with your
readers and to let them see a glimpse into your life, letting them know there
is more to your life than just (for me) nutrition.
