In a world where marketing is constantly all around us, Integrative Nutrition recognizes the need for students to develop the skills to make their business stand out among the rest. We believe the services and products that our graduates offer are essential to making positive change, so the Health Coach Training Program aims to help students reach their business goals.

2010 graduate Heather Dubé, who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, had a previous background in marketing and branding before enrolling at IIN. During the program she was able to really build on these skills, and now she’s thriving as a business owner, a functional nutritionist, a competitive figure athlete, and a writer for On Fitness Magazine and Livestrong.com. Read on to hear about the successful business skills Heather has developed, and for her tips on getting published!

What were you doing before Integrative Nutrition?

Ada Azarya, a 2010 graduate living in Miami Beach, Florida, has always been passionate about chocolate. A few years ago, she discovered her passion for cooking, and in her kitchen, she found much more than the great product that launched her business; she also realized that what we eat affects the way we live. Now, as a graduate of the Health Coach Training Program, a raw/vegan chef, and the owner of an organic chocolate company, Ada’s health, self-confidence, and business have all taken off!

What led you to explore Integrative Nutrition's program?

Before IIN I was in Real Estate, but always had passion for cooking, especially because I was born in a country that is known for its hospitality and delicious cuisine, Baku, Azerbijan. When I got laid off in New York City in 2008 from a large real estate development firm, I decided to take some time off and follow my heart to find my true passions. I found myself being very interested in food channels, healthy eating books and books on spirituality. I also started making my own chocolate in all the free time that I had.

Antonella Palazio, a 2010 graduate who lives in Miami, Florida, focuses on educating people and getting them motivated to experiment and eat wholesome clean foods through her practice. But more than that, she believes food is simply one layer to pull back in discovering who we are. By sharing the basics of nutrition, she helps people link the “whys” and “hows” of changing food patterns. She chooses to use the word “how” over “what” one eats, because it favors the holistic mindset – that it is not just about food. “It entails the whole dimension of who we are, why we are here, and how to enrich our journey in our spiritual evolution,” said Antonella. “Food plays one of the many layers of our lives, and this became very clear in my own life through the Health Coach Training Program.”

What led you to explore Integrative Nutrition's program?

I had a desire to learn more about food than why we just eat to live. I had only heard of the dietician profession offered by universities that required a long, extended program. For me, discovering IIN represented a learning sabbatical. The scope of information became extensive and went beyond the traditional perspective to the holistic approach.

We’re on a mission to improve health and happiness throughout the entire world and we love to hear about students who are sharing what they’ve learned with international communities.

Nicole Fox, a 2011 graduate from Doral, Florida and a member of the South Florida Health Coaches, is a bilingual Health Coach who is using her ability to speak fluent Spanish to its full potential. She identified a need for health coaching within the Spanish-speaking community and is bringing all she learned in the Health Coach Training Program to people who otherwise may never have found guidance for their health struggles. From cooking classes to corporate lectures – and even a segment on a national TV show – here is someone who is truly spreading the ripple effect!

When looking at all that Diana Herrera has achieved, most notably a position as the vice president of a photo-imaging firm, one would never assume she was struggling to find an internal balance. Though she was excelling professionally, her health was deteriorating, and she knew she needed a change.

After graduating from the Health Coach Training Program in 2010, Diana is what you could call a professional life juggler. Living in Miami, Florida, she continues to work full time at the photo lab but also maintains a part time health coaching business. She has nailed down the act of balancing her career with her personal life and health by learning to connect her emotions to her eating habits.

She now helps others do the same through her practice Embrace Balance, and is one of the founders of South Florida Health Coaches, where she collaborates on retreats and events, and supports other Coaches’ individual business growth.

Before enrolling at Integrative Nutrition, 2010 graduate Odette Worrell juggled the demands of living in two different places and working for a family-owned business, all while serving on the board of two different schools. It was only a matter of time before she felt a need for change. When she actually started to pay attention to this need, she noticed an inner shift toward self-acceptance and acknowledged that her lifestyle just wasn’t working anymore. When she found the Health Coach Training Program in an online search, something clicked. She describes it as though “the school had taken everything I wanted to do and be, and placed it into a concise package.”

Since graduating, Odette has founded her practice, Find Your Organic Soul, and partnered with fellow Health Coach Michelle Kramer. The dynamic pair stays busy in Delray Beach, Florida, seeing clients (watch one client discuss their success in a video below!), groups and corporations throughout South Florida, while planning lectures and community events, such as a Vitamix demo booth at the 2012 Garlic Festival, and a Connected Warriors event which raises money to bring wellness to veterans. They also have plans to launch a line of gluten-free food and products by the end of the year. What an amazing start to her new career!

What’s better than one Health Coach working to help professionals and veterans find time to bring health back into their lives? Two! Michelle Kramer, a 2010 graduate of the Health Coach Training Program, teamed up with her business partner Odette Worrell to coach busy men and women in their mid 40’s. Together they run Find Your Organic Soul out of Delray Beach, Florida, and have found a successful balance by listening to and supporting each other.

A career in health coaching had been a long time in the making for Michelle, who first learned of Integrative Nutrition over ten years ago. Years later, she’s following the career path she always desired, and has acquired a fantastic business partner. This interview highlights Michelle’s successful journey, and the unforeseen joys of working with someone who shares her passion for health coaching.

How has your life changed since enrolling in Integrative Nutrition’s program?

Since I enrolled in Integrative Nutrition I have had my seat belt fastened, and boy it's been an AMAZING ride! I have a clear sense of who I am and allow something new to unfold each moment! I have opened my heart to seven incredible women, the South Florida Health Coaches, and I am no longer a lone ranger. I no longer struggle with binge eating or IBS, and I’ve given myself permission to play!

What were some important things you took away from your time at Integrative Nutrition?

I learned at Integrative Nutrition that happiness lies in every choice that I make in my life. I learned that only I know what I need, and if I take a moment and slow down, the answers are within me.

Many Integrative Nutrition students enroll in the Health Coach Training Program and end up rediscovering other interests like teaching, exercise, or a new spiritual practice. What’s really special is when a student takes something they’re passionate about and combines it with what they’ve learned in the program to forge a new health coaching practice.

Alina Zhukovskaya is a 2011 graduate living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and has incorporated her love for fashion into her work as a Health Coach and raw food chef. Her unique approach applies the concept of wearing clothes that fit to wearing food that fits. After years of working in the catering business, she enrolled in the Health Coach Training Program, and soon melded her passion for fashion with easy, healthy meals. Alina now shows her clients how easy it is to “love your Gucci’s and your green juice!”

Describe how you began to transition to a healthier diet while working in the food industry.

For nearly four years, I was a vice president of marketing at one of Washington, D.C.'s largest catering companies. My days were wrapped around talking about food, writing about food, designing projects around food, thinking about food and tasting food. It took a big toll on my health and my relationship with food overall.

Because of my passion for food (and no extra time to spend on making it), I started to come up with tips and tricks for easy and healthier cooking. I was offered a TV show on a local cable station in Maryland and hosted my own show for a few months before moving to Florida from the Washington, D.C. area.

The catering company I worked for did not specifically focus on healthy cooking, but because I was so passionate about it, I started the TV show to illustrate how you can take tips and tricks from the pros and make food at home healthier. 

While studying modern dance at The Ailey School, 2007 graduate Adina Grigore met many people who were working with a Health Coach. Dancers brought up Integrative Nutrition in conversation all the time, and then a long-time interest in nutrition led her to a talk by Joshua Rosenthal. After hearing him speak, she knew that completing the Heath Coach Training Program was the missing piece to her personal training practice.

What Adina expected to get out of the program and what she actually took away after graduating were drastically different. Her training went beyond a solid education with teachings from renowned health professionals. She came away as a new person: a leader and a bold businesswoman with an invincible attitude. She went in as a personal trainer seeking a credible edge, and came out with a thriving natural skincare business. This interview highlights the influence Integrative Nutrition has had on Adina, who lives in Brooklyn, NY, and how her company Sprout Skincare came to be.

How has Joshua Rosenthal made an impact on you since enrolling in the program?

I think anyone who has ever heard Joshua speak would agree that he's pretty powerful. He just seemed to be saying all the things I had always thought about nutrition, but had never been able to articulate. It made me realize the school would help me be able to do that. Now that I've gotten to talk to and work with Joshua, his honesty and warmth has helped me aspire to be that type of business owner as well.

With students and graduates in 88 countries, Integrative Nutrition is truly an international training program committed to making the opportunity to become a Health Coach accessible to people all over the world. One of the best parts of hearing from our alumni is learning about the state of health and wellness in different countries across the globe. Even better? Knowing that these Health Coaches are making a difference in places where it’s needed most.

2011 graduate Tamar Henry is an expatriate currently living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she’s found a community in desperate need of attention to health. Obesity, diabetes and heart disease run rampant throughout the region, while a lack of knowledge threatens a younger generation. Tamar is tackling both of these issues by bringing her nutrition knowledge and business practices to schools, group wellness programs, cooking classes, and a community health ambassador role.

What led you to enroll in the Health Coach Training Program?

I had a Bachelor’s of Science degree with a focus in health and wellness, and I owned a small vegan muffins and cupcakes business. I had a personal interest in nutrition, and wanted to find a career that I could be passionate about, where I could help others. I wanted to learn more about the subjects that I was interested in and I wanted to connect with like-minded people.