Testimonials from KBDI Graduates
Discover what our graduates love about KBDI. You’ll learn more about how our program has helped interns launch their business and about ways that they felt supported throughout the program.
You’ll also learn about what surprised interns most about the internship experience!
Discover what our graduate have to say about KBDI.
How did KBDI help you with achieving your goal of starting your own business?
KBDI helped me to actually take action. I’m someone who has a lot of ideas in my head and doesn’t know where to start. These rotations and curriculum guided me into creating very actionable, simple steps in order to actually start moving the needle rather than just daydreaming about it.
What advice would you give to interns just starting out with KBDI?
Don’t try to run faster than you can walk. KBDI is an incredibly robust and strategic internship program that covers nearly every aspect of entrepreneurship that you’d need to know about, but your ability to use that information to your advantage depends on your mental and physical wellbeing. You’re learning it right now, you don’t have to execute it all perfectly in this season, just be a sponge and absorb it. It’s ok not to know everything, you won’t know everything even by the time you finish, that’s what the rest of life is for.
You can follow Niccole’s entrepreneurial journey here.
Would you recommend KBDI to a future intern and why?
I would absolutely recommend KBDI to a future intern! If you enjoy learning at your own pace and being in control of your own schedule, a distance DI is the perfect fit for you. If you dream of being in private practice, KBDI is a no-brainer. And if you’re worried about feeling unsupported, don’t, because Kelan and Beryl are immensely helpful, responsive, organized, and well-connected, which made contracting rotation sites a seamless experience.
Being in control of my learning pace and my schedule reduced a lot of stress because I didn’t have to compromise my current lifestyle to accomplish my internship goals and responsibilities.
Having the freedom to pick my own rotation sites allowed me to create a very diverse experience and network with a greater scope of local professionals.
I would recommend KBDI specifically because interning with private practice for 7 weeks is something you don’t get from other dietetic internships.
How did KBDI help you further your understanding of business?
I have a much deeper understanding of business acumen than I had imagined getting from a dietetic internship!KBDIs business resources are very innovative, trendy, and fun. I feel like I have a very current understanding of business planning, marketing, and branding.
DIs are expensive, and paying for an internship can be a tough sell; but I truly feel as though I got my money’s worth due to KBDIs class days, business acumen, and staff support.
What was your favorite memory from your internship experience with KBDI?
My favorite memory was being in orientation and learning the importance of meditation from my directors. I was completely surprised that time was made out on the schedule to have interns meditate. This activity showed me how much my directors cared about their interns’ wellbeing and reassured me of my decision to choose KBDI.
What are the benefits of choosing your own rotations and preceptors?
The benefit of choosing my own rotation and preceptors was to get experience in different areas of dietetics that I was personally interested in. I was able to start my first rotation with a school district that I thought I would want to work for after passing the exam. Now, I am torn between going into clinical practice or focusing on my own private practice. It is a decision that I wouldn’t have imagined, having to make and I’m happy with it.
Would you recommend KBDI or a distance DI to a future intern and why?
I strongly recommend KBDI as a distance program. The program has a robust curriculum and well designed activities throughout the 9 months that really exposes the interns to think outside of the box with new ideas and mindset, while still teaching us how to handle what is “inside of the box”, the traditional way of doing business. I am finishing the program feeling inspired and excited about implementing my business plan and what I learned in my own professional career. I loved my experience with the KBDI program and you will love it too!
How did KBDI help you with achieving your goal of starting your own business?
Going over so many business scenarios, discussing what steps are needed in order to have a private practice/business, and understanding the importance of becoming really familiar with the financial side of the business during my KBDI program helped to have a broader vision of what it takes to successfully structure and run a business. With the acquired knowledge I know have a very solid business plan that I am excited to put in practice in the near future.
KBDI helped me to achieve probably one of the biggest challenges to starting a business — simply STARTING! Because the final internship project is a personal business plan, I had no choice but to get started on drafting a feasible course of action that I could actually take to make my business dreams become a reality right after I graduated from KBDI. I could have easily seen myself otherwise putting that off in self-doubt.
Would you recommend KBDI or a distance DI to a future intern and why?
I would confidently recommend KBDI to a future intern because of how customizable the internship experience is! You get to design your whole schedule. Beryl and Kelan emphasize the importance of self-care and making sure interns can create an internship schedule that doesn’t sacrifice the things that really matter to us.
What were the benefits of choosing your own rotations/preceptors?
Getting to choose my own rotations and preceptors gave me the opportunity to improve networking skills and really prove my desire to learn from specific professionals. I was able to gain valuable experiences in areas of dietetics that are important to me and the path I want to take as a future dietitian.
What was your favorite or the most helpful activity from orientation or class days?
My favorite activity during orientation was when we watched a mindset training. I used this video throughout my entire internship and tried to listen to it at least a couple of times a month, or whenever I was feeling overwhelmed. This video helped keep me in a great state of mindfulness and I am so glad Beryl shared it with us!
How did KBDI help you with achieving your goal of starting your own business?
KBDI truly helped us lay the groundwork for our very own business plans! It is not my natural tendency to be detail-oriented, but with the class days focused on business along with Beryl and Kelan’s help, I was able to critically think about every aspect of my future business that I would have never thought about on my own!
