Hailey Brooks

I got my undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois. I actually started as a biology major because I was always fascinated by the physiology of the body in all of my extracurricular classes were science classes. However, during my sophomore year of college, I started looking into what job I would get when I got out of school and found dietetics. I had never even heard of the occupation before but it seemed perfect for me and I switched majors immediately. Then I proceeded to complete my Master’s degree in clinical nutrition and my dietetic internship at the same time at the University of Wisconsin/UWHealth. From this experience, I learned that I do not enjoy working in the hospital setting because I never had the means to help anyone. I only had about 15 minutes that I could spend per patient, I had to follow specific protocols, and most of my time was actually spent just documenting interactions with patients rather than actually with the patients. That is why I am now working in functional wellness where I have the time and resources to actually help people make changes to their health.