Serving Beyond: Jaelyn Murphy, Registered and Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist
Charlotte, NC – Jaelyn Murphy, a graduate from Clemson University (class of 2015) and Registered and Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) from Charlotte, NC, has dedicated her career to educating patients and her community about the role food can play in the reduction of symptoms associated with disease, as well as disease reversal. She currently works for Atrium Health, previously Carolinas Healthcare System, and operates in the RDN role as both an inpatient and outpatient dietitian.
Jaelyn serves beyond this role in her community as owner of J.M. Meal Prep & Nutritional Services, where she specializes in weight management providing customized meal plans, meal preparation services and medical nutrition therapy.
In the upcoming new year, Jaelyn will be changing her business name to Prime.Fit.Prep, which will aligned with her fiancé’s plan for his gym, Prime Time Aesthetics. She credits her fiancé, James Shipman, as the reason she realized she had more to give outside of her 9-5 position. She acclaims, “He lit a fire in me and helped me get my business plan together. Partnering with him has allowed us to impact a larger crowd.”
Since childhood, Jaelyn noticed family, friends and others around her suffering from health issues due to lack of exposure to nutritional health. She yearned to become an RDN to provide education centered on nutritional health for those who look like her and who culturally consumed some of the same foods, but unsure how to unlearn the habits and behaviors leading to sickness and chronic disease.
Jaelyn enjoys the impact she makes on her 9-5 job, where she works with individuals one-on-one for at least an hour educating and increasing their confidence in their ability to make the necessary changes to their eating habits to slow disease progression. However, she also desires to help those beyond her 9-5 who desperately wants to make changes in their food choices.
She longs to help the African-American community transition to a life of better health through access to knowledge that will assist in making better nutrition-related choices. Jaelyn confirmed that of all RDN only 3% are African-American; therefore, due to lack of diversity in the nutritional field, she felt obligated to do more for her community.
When asked if she foresees herself leaving the healthcare system all together and focusing on business ownership as an RDN, Jaelyn confirmed she envisions herself expanding the Meal Prep component of her business and continuing to offer Medical Nutrition Therapy, while remaining connected to the healthcare system in some capacity.
After the initial spark from her fiancé to consider serving beyond her 9-5, she decided to officially launch into entrepreneurship as an RDN when she realized the vast number of unqualified individuals falsely providing nutrition information and services to clients. Jaelyn highlights the fact that we live in a world where everyone is a self-proclaimed nutrition expert, which makes it difficult for consumers to decipher evidence-based information versus fallacies and myths. By having her own business, she is able to properly educate, provide the necessary tools to help clients take care of themselves in all aspects and “provide the why behind healthy choices”.
Jaelyn whole-heartedly believes in serving beyond the traditional RDN role. She empowers others to tap into their beyond and find ways to serve. For those considering starting their own entrepreneurial journey, she encourages them to make the jump and not focus on the “what-ifs” because those thoughts are the ones that will convince you that you are not ready. Her advice is to set short-term goals and map out a plan so that you can witness your progress towards your desired goal!
To find out more about Jaelyn and her services, contact her at jae.murphy23@gmail.com or 704-661-7191. Be sure to look for her new website and Instagram account with the upcoming business name change at the start of the new year.