About Kelly
My beginning
I was born in Portland, Maine and grew up 45 minutes north of Portand in the small town of Randolph. In 2004 I moved to Germany to be an Au Pair and was in awe of the difference in food culture and lifestyle. It was this pivotal point in my life that guided me towards a career path in health, wellness and well-being. Upon my return to the states, I pursued and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Southern Maine.
My move to The City
In 2009 I made the move to “The City” where I earned a Master’s Degree in Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics from New York University and completed my dietetic internship at Beth Israel Medical Center, which is now transitioned to the Mount Sinai Hospital System. While the classroom instruction was profoundly beneficial it was the experience in the hospital, food service kitchen, and community that expanded my knowledge in nutrition and dietetics to new heights not found in atextbook. Working alongside a mentor who is a leader in the “nutripreneur” movement I was provided with a glimpse of the different avenues in which I could take my skills and knowledge beyond its traditional hospital grounds.
My work so far
I have worked in various neighborhoods in NYC in areas such as employee wellness, HIV/AIDS nutrition care, gestational diabetes, and perinatal nutrition. I was introduced to telehealth in 2014, and I am currently working as an independent contractor focusing on women’s health, reproductive nutrition, and general well-being with a focus on cultural foods and traditional cuisine.
In 2016 I was recruited to the United Arab Emirates for work and moved there in January 2017. After completing 3 years between Abu Dhabi and Dubai as a manager, consultant, researcher, and Pilates Teacher I returned back to NYC in January 2020. I began teaching Pilates at Equinox on Greenwich Avenue in February and stopped teaching on March 16th, 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. During the 6 months that Equinox was closed, I took a short-term urgent position as a Clinical Dietitian at a hospital on Roosevelt Island and later as a Long-Term Care dietitian in the Bronx. At the beginning of 2021, I taught a Health and Wellness class at an independent prep school in Manhattan to students with learning disabilities. After a whirlwind arrival back to America and working through the pandemic in various settings, I made the decision to focus more on my own brand and Pilates education and teaching. I am now seeing patients remotely for nutrition while I am based between Paris and NYC, and I teach Pilates in person at Etoile Pilates in Paris.
I enjoy volunteer work and have volunteered in various settings such as local soup kitchens, working with the Hill Tribes in Mindanao, Philippines, refugee support in Paris, and teaching Pilates to women at Dubai Foundation for Women and Children.
My approach
My approach to working with clients includes evidence-based research outcomes combined with common sense and a sense of humor. Research has shown a recent rise in anxiety and depression, which may overlap with one’s food choices and general confusion about what to eat. I built Indigenous Nutritionist® & Contrology with this in mind and utilize technology to enable me to reach people around the globe with my message.
My Journey Forward
I completed my full apparatus Pilates training, which involved bridging to Classical Pilates, while based in Dubai. I have over 20 years of Pilates experience. I am continuing to build my brand from the ground up, taking the “Slow Food,” approach of allowing the time for it to be grown organically in order to feed you the best content I can create. Recently, I got married to a French man and am enjoying married life. Currently, I am focusing on building up my blog and vlog, and you can expect to hear more about the French food culture now that I am a “Parisian-in-training.”
I am interested in how literature, writers, artists and philosophers of the past can provide insights into the nutrition, health, movement, wellness, and well-being lifestyles of today and the intersection of culture, marketing, policy, and the environment with health. I am further interested in how indigenous (native to a particular place) foods and traditional cuisine can survive and thrive in modern-day society.