Lactation consultant Theresa Moutafis, MA, RD, IBCLC, PMH-C, surprisingly wasn’t breastfed as a child.

“I had an aunt who breastfed, and I remember being like, ‘What is this?’” she said.

She learned about breastfeeding for maybe a day or two in graduate school, maybe for a day in her internship, and then her first job out of graduate school was working in WIC, doing a lot of different tasks. Suddenly, the organization needed a breastfeeding coordinator.

“I kind of was just thrust into being the breastfeeding coordinator,” Moutafis said, noting she took the required training courses and eventually had her own kids, whom she breastfed through toddlerhood. “There’s something about lactation that I’m really passionate about, because I like to think that it’s confidence building. You’re just really helping these families build confidence with their new babies, understanding that their babies are people. They’re not these little robots you see on TV or something like that, they’re real people with temperaments. It’s just so rewarding to be able to help families achieve their breastfeeding goals. I don’t know if I would have gone into this if I hadn’t had that first job out of school.”

From dreaming of chasing tornadoes to becoming a dietitian and lactation consultant, Moutafis’ story is one of unexpected turns, professional reinvention and a passion for helping new families thrive. Through candid insights into career struggles, burnout and the challenge of breaking into management, her experiences shine a light on the evolving world of dietetics. Below is the exclusive full Q&A in this edition of RD Close Up.

Describe your role

I’m full time through Aeroflow Health breast pumps in the lactation division. We’re hoping to start a nutrition program within the lactation department, so I’m currently the nutrition coordinator, but I’m also a lactation consultant, and that’s how I started here. We teach large group classes through insurance, and they are all lactation related. Last year, a couple other people with a nutrition background and I wrote a nutrition curriculum. We launched a prenatal postpartum nutrition class last week. I also do some one-on-one lactation consults. I work some product integration stuff into the classes, and I’m writing some new nutrition curriculums too.

Why did you want to work in dietetics?

I had started out wanting to be a meteorologist. I came about in the “Twister” generation. (Editor’s note: “Twister” is a 1996 film about tornadoes that inspired many people to become storm chasers.) I was a meteorology major in undergrad and it was a big joke in our department. Their numbers soared after “Twister.” I was really interested. But after ;graduation, I switched to dietetics. I still love the weather, but it just wasn’t the skill for me, and or the field for me. What’s interesting is the different career tests I took said I totally should be working with people in a counseling capacity. I tried to manipulate my answers to questions, because I wanted it to tell me I should be doing meteorology. It still came out that I should be working with people. So I think that’s very interesting. I gave into dietetics through. I lost weight. I thought, “I could help other people do this,” but then I realized how much deeper the field is, and really found my niche in all of that.

How did you get the job at your company?

I had seen a job posting; I think it was on LinkedIn. They were looking for a medical records coordinator. I ended up being the communications coordinator, and my role has kind of evolved over time. When I had to do an audition teaching part of a class, they just really thought I would probably be a good fit, and it turned out to be a great opportunity. The consultant program is a newer program, so it’s constantly changing and it’s a lot of fun. I’ve been working there since the end of 2022, so a little over two years.

What do you like about it?

Personally, I get burnt out seeing patients. I don’t know if I put too much of myself into it, if it’s my ADHD just having problems in that kind of format, but I was just getting burnt out. When I took a job that had admin work as a big component of it, and teaching classes, I realized that teaching classes is great. You’re just hopping in there and it’s a lot of fun. I really appreciate that I have minimal one-on-one time, even though I know that is a talent, and I do have it. I do really well with connecting with patients, but because the burnout is so complete for me, I’ve never really been able to make it work. At my current job, I like that I can sit at my computer and do stuff. I like that I can hop into a class, hop out of a class, and mentally, it just works better for me.

What has been the biggest challenge for you as a dietitian working in the industry?

I have to say the job opportunities and the pay. I started working virtually before it was a thing. I got into the virtual space really early, back in 2016, and the pay was more than double what I was earning as a clinic dietitian. But since then, it feels like it’s stagnated or lowered. That really is disappointing. I think with virtual work too, it’s easy to feel isolated. I’ve made friends from jobs, and this one is nice because there’s a lot of collaboration, and we can chat between classes and stuff.

There could be so much out there for dietitians, but there isn’t if you’re not super entrepreneurial, which I’m not. I’d prefer just to be given tasks to do. I also don’t want to just be a cog in the wheel. If you want to do something creative, or something different or outside of the box, it’s hard. It’s really hard to get your foot in the door to do stuff, and it’s also hard to get into management. I’m sitting here seeing dietitians much younger than me just fall into these management positions, and I can’t apply for one because I don’t technically have the experience, even though I sort of do. It’s just like, what exactly is out there? It’s a much different space than what I was trained for in grad school. A lot of things have changed, and I think I was in a weird transition zone where I learned the old school way. There’s a lot that’s newer out there in terms of job advancement and things like that.

What is one thing you wish you had known before starting your career in dietetics?

On a more personal level: What I aspired to do and thought would be fun is actually not how my brain processes things and works. All the things I was gung-ho to do, it was like, start a private practice and do this, that and the other. The thought of having a private practice right now makes me want to puke. I have no interest in putting in all that essentially unpaid legwork. Now I know myself better, I know what inspires me, what helps me and what gets me excited, and it’s different than a lot of people. I’ve come to be totally OK with that, but I wish I knew myself better back then, so I could have understood more what I wanted to do. At the same time, my career has taken some great turns. So, was that necessary to even consider doing those shiny and exciting things? The journey to discovering what was best for me was probably good in and of itself. I don’t know if I even needed to mull over those other things.

Has there been anything specific that helped you move forward in your role?

It’s been helpful to understand corporate politics, for better or for worse. I also learned a lot in terms of communication, which has been helpful. Even if it’s how things are emailed, how things are presented, I’ve really had a lot of growth in the area. Before, I really was just a cog in the wheel. OK, I see this patient, and then I’m done. And then I do this, and I’m done. There was no real collaboration as much as in other jobs. It’s just I was an employee, and that’s it. Whereas with this job, there’s a lot of opportunity for collaboration. I’ve really been able to build those skills, which has been a lot of fun to be able to work a quote-unquote normal job, while also still having that person-to-person interaction. I think I’ve really grown a lot with teaching: how to pace myself, how to speak clearly, how to summarize things and how to work with different personalities. It’s probably been one of the jobs I’ve grown the most.

Is there a program or initiative that you are most proud of?

I’ve done various things over the years. Something at Aeroflow I have been the proudest of is creating our products master list, which I very closely guard, because I’m working on it now. The new nutrition curriculum I wrote because my boss was like, “We want to shy away from rope talking about things, we don’t want things to be dry, especially because these are going to be shorter classes.” I was able to use all of my expertise throughout the years to really build something I think is going to be really dynamic for people, which is a big stretch for me. I’m not a creative person, and so I’m really proud of the way things turned out.

I think in general, with nutrition counseling, the work I’ve been able to do with people in a community, which I know is a total 180, but really being able to find that type of work with people and help them understand that dieting failures aren’t their fault. I think those are my two nutrition roles that I’ve been proud of.

Have any “hot topics” in the dietetics/nutrition industry impacted the way you do things?

I have a lot of different coworkers. Some of them are doulas. They often bring nutrition ideas that aren’t evidence based to the table, and I have to be the expert and rein things in. Even my boss is like, “Oh, carnivore diet, food addictions and micro plastics.” We’re not going to talk about this in a high-level general class. It’s kind of like trying to help people break that gap. Sure, this is something that’s interesting and is going to be impactful, but we have to get the basics first. If you’re not eating any vegetables during the day, then I don’t think microplastics are our biggest concern right now. It’s up to people to understand that they don’t need to go to the sexy stuff. They need to go to the basic stuff, and then we can build on from there.

Bio: Theresa Moutafis, MA, RD, IBCLC, PMH-C, is an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and Perinatal Mental Health-Certified (PMH-C) professional with over a decade of experience in nutrition counseling, lactation support and maternal-infant health. Currently, Theresa serves as a nutrition coordinator at Aeroflow Health, where she plays a key role in developing the nutrition vertical, providing high-quality clinical care, co-authoring curriculums and supporting perinatal patients through education and consultations. Additionally, she has held various roles as an instructor, consultant and communications coordinator, contributing her expertise to organizations such as Nourish and Foodsmart. She has also worked extensively in content development and educational course subject creation. Originally from Central New York, she currently resides in Salem, Massachusetts, with her husband, three kids, tuxedo cat and leopard gecko. Theresa and her family love the beach, tiki anything and spooky high strangeness — a frightening type of unexplained phenomenon often involving mysterious or paranormal events. Boo!