Biography
Ashley was born August 21, 1990 in Knoxville, TN. Raised in
Knoxville, her hobbies include cooking, music (a violinist), running, arts and crafts,
and hiking in the Smoky Mountains. She graduated in 2008 from Gibbs High with goals aimed high.
Her interest in nutrition was discovered her senior year in high school. At that time, the plan was to be a veterinarian, but a certain dietitian teaching a food/nutrition course helped spark a curiosity in the field. In the fall of 2008, her grandfather, having had numerous nutrition-related problems, including three heart attacks and Type II Diabetes, was diagnosed with colon cancer, and his health and weight plummeted with numerous complications following surgery that had removed the cancer. Ashley witnessed the medical side of nutrition and the work of a clinical dietitian that helped treat and bring him back to a better health status, and encouraged a healthier lifestyle.
Ashley started UT that fall as an animal science major, but by the spring of her freshman year, she had already switched to the nutrition field due to her new-found passion. With the goal to be a registered dietitian, there needed to be a focus.
During her studies at the university, she found an interest in the field of prenatal, infant, and child nutrition. Meanwhile, East Tennessee Children's Hospital had employed her to work with infant nutrition, and overseeing safe formula prep protocols, while she was attending college. This provided a another perspective to infant care. Ashley's found focus was to achieve certification with the International Board of Lactation Consultants (IBCLC) to specialize in breastfeeding counseling, with the idea that practicing good nutrition as a preventative measure, from childhood and on, can reduce the obesity epidemic, along with many other health problems in the future, such as the nutritional problems she saw her own grandfather go through.
Ashley has worked with the Knox Co. Health Department, as a Nutrition Educator and Certified Lactation Counselor, where she put her passion to work.
As of December 11th, 2015 Ashley is now a housewife and full-time mom, choosing to stay home with her little one, Emma Rose, while putting more work into the RHOK blog, giving back to the community, and pursuing her IBCLC plans.
Her interest in nutrition was discovered her senior year in high school. At that time, the plan was to be a veterinarian, but a certain dietitian teaching a food/nutrition course helped spark a curiosity in the field. In the fall of 2008, her grandfather, having had numerous nutrition-related problems, including three heart attacks and Type II Diabetes, was diagnosed with colon cancer, and his health and weight plummeted with numerous complications following surgery that had removed the cancer. Ashley witnessed the medical side of nutrition and the work of a clinical dietitian that helped treat and bring him back to a better health status, and encouraged a healthier lifestyle.
Ashley started UT that fall as an animal science major, but by the spring of her freshman year, she had already switched to the nutrition field due to her new-found passion. With the goal to be a registered dietitian, there needed to be a focus.
During her studies at the university, she found an interest in the field of prenatal, infant, and child nutrition. Meanwhile, East Tennessee Children's Hospital had employed her to work with infant nutrition, and overseeing safe formula prep protocols, while she was attending college. This provided a another perspective to infant care. Ashley's found focus was to achieve certification with the International Board of Lactation Consultants (IBCLC) to specialize in breastfeeding counseling, with the idea that practicing good nutrition as a preventative measure, from childhood and on, can reduce the obesity epidemic, along with many other health problems in the future, such as the nutritional problems she saw her own grandfather go through.
Ashley has worked with the Knox Co. Health Department, as a Nutrition Educator and Certified Lactation Counselor, where she put her passion to work.
As of December 11th, 2015 Ashley is now a housewife and full-time mom, choosing to stay home with her little one, Emma Rose, while putting more work into the RHOK blog, giving back to the community, and pursuing her IBCLC plans.
My Philosophy
In regard to the field of nutrition/dietetics, I personally feel that all practices should be based on evidence-based research, dedication, and passion. Anything other than this, in my book, should be considered worthless. The most important of these is passion. Without it, one loses the ambition to retain, use, and extend one's knowledge of the subject. Nutrition is an ever-changing, ever-evolving arena, that needs constant revision, research, and updating, because our bodies and our world are the same way!
Being healthy: it has to be a foundation of one's life. In a perfect situation, from conception. My work will be dedicated to spreading that, focusing on prevention instead of so much on treatment of resulting symptoms and ailments. If that seed is allowed to be sewn, good nutrition will not seem so scary and diet-like, and more like a natural way of living.
I live by "practice what I preach". I am dedicated to the world of nutrition to the extent of using it on myself. Why would anyone listen to a "health expert" who wasn't healthy his/herself?