Tracy Hardy: Indigenous dietitian | Dietitian Connection

Tracy Hardy is one of only a handful of dietitians from an Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander background. In this eye-opening chat, Tracy shares her unique experiences working at the intersection of modern day nutrition science and Indigenous knowledge, cultures and food systems. She delves into the growth of her business, Wattleseed Nutrition, and the exciting projects she’s working on, and offers advice for dietitians to support Indigenous people entering the profession. We can’t wait for you to listen!

Biography

Tracy Hardy is a Gamilaroi woman, an Accredited Nutritionist/Practising Dietitian, certified and licenced Wayapa® Practitioner, Diploma Qualified Beauty Therapist and Founder of Wattleseed Nutrition, Health & Wellbeing, a 100% Indigenous owned and operated business based on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. She takes a personalised, holistic and culturally-centred approach to food, food environments, meal patterns, eating habits, health and wellbeing. Tracy has a particular interest in the importance of gut health, traditional foods (aka bushfoods) and therapies and their role in nutritional and total health and wellbeing.

In this episode, we discuss:

Tracy’s experiences whilst studying
Her career before she became a dietitian and her first steps in the world of nutrition
Her passion for research
How dietitians can support more Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people to consider dietetics as a career and how we can work towards a culturally-appropriate approach
What our profession as a whole can do to support our nation’s First People
Her learnings from the many challenges and opportunities she’s faced
The importance of mentoring