Rural Futures with Dr. Connie Episode 15 Amber Pankonin

Rural Futures Institute Author

10/17/2018 Added

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[00:00:00.380]On this podcast we talk with rural mavericks,
[00:00:03.170]futurists, and researchers to raise bold voices
[00:00:06.240]for rural people and places.
[00:00:08.490]I'm Katelyn, producer of the show,
[00:00:10.910]and I'm asking you to do your part.
[00:00:13.230]Support the Rural Futures podcast by leaving a review
[00:00:16.450]which helps new listeners find us,
[00:00:18.700]and become a sponsor by visiting
[00:00:20.760]ruralfutures.nebraska.edu/podcast.
[00:00:26.254](upbeat orchestral music)
[00:00:27.800]It's about access to communication,
[00:00:30.710]and access to people who can help them.
[00:00:34.567]I look at even the field of dietetics,
[00:00:37.060]and how far we've come in the last five years.
[00:00:42.750]Rural Futures the podcast where we connect
[00:00:45.830]thought leaders and doers at the intersection of technology,
[00:00:49.630]and what it means to be human.
[00:00:51.420]Every episode we talk with entrepreneurs, researchers,
[00:00:54.760]and achievers to create impact for generations to come.
[00:00:59.230]And now, here's Dr. Connie.
[00:01:01.960]Welcome back to the Rural Futures podcast.
[00:01:04.150]Joining us today is Amber Pankonin.
[00:01:06.510]Amber is a registered dietician, recipe developer,
[00:01:09.640]and nutrition communicator based in Lincoln, Nebraska,
[00:01:12.790]welcome to the podcast, Amber.
[00:01:14.320]Thanks for having me.
[00:01:15.770]I should say you're also a fellow podcaster,
[00:01:18.310]Healthy Under Pressure, which everybody should
[00:01:20.540]be listening to.
[00:01:21.860]Thank you so much, I know we've talked about
[00:01:24.490]podcasting, it's a fun thing to do.
[00:01:27.010]It is fun, and we're so excited to have people
[00:01:29.060]tuned in here to listen to what you have to say,
[00:01:31.597]and I would like to just dive into a little bit more
[00:01:33.960]background, tell us a little bit about your business.
[00:01:36.980]I'm a registered dietician and nutrition communicator.
[00:01:40.340]Healthy Under Pressure highlights the stories and struggles
[00:01:44.130]of entrepreneurs and busy people who are trying
[00:01:46.370]to stay healthy, under pressure.
[00:01:48.540]I'm doing a lot of recipe development, and also brand work.
[00:01:52.760]So I create messages for brands and companies who really
[00:01:56.730]need help getting those messages to consumers
[00:01:59.830]in terms of how food is produced and how we can make meals
[00:02:04.200]at home that are simple, and easy.
[00:02:07.430]I love producing recipes like that, for busy people
[00:02:11.150]like ourselves, that we can just whip up in minutes
[00:02:14.110]and have on the table in 30 minutes or less.
[00:02:16.930]That really makes you my hero,
[00:02:18.400]I've gotta say. (laughter)
[00:02:20.990]Cause we do, a lot of us need that.
[00:02:23.510]Tell us a little bit too now,
[00:02:24.980]what got you interested in this?
[00:02:26.600]And what do you do, we know kind of a little bit
[00:02:28.740]about what you do, but tell us a little bit more
[00:02:30.310]about being a dietician and some of the avenues
[00:02:32.340]people take in this space.
[00:02:33.750]Absolutely, so I actually became interested
[00:02:37.570]in dietetics because I studied nutrition science
[00:02:40.420]during college, I actually thought I was going to
[00:02:43.730]maybe go to PA school, but,
[00:02:46.420]Oh really?
[00:02:47.878]But I took a little detour and spent some time
[00:02:52.330]living in DC, I came back to Lincoln, I worked as a cook
[00:02:57.040]for about a year and I realized, you know,
[00:03:00.080]I think I really want to pursue dietetics,
[00:03:03.000]which is when I applied to the internship at the
[00:03:05.280]University of Nebraska, and really went that route,
[00:03:09.330]and what I learned is that dieticians practice
[00:03:12.640]in a number of different areas.
[00:03:14.650]So we find dieticians who are in the academic space,
[00:03:19.110]so maybe they're teaching, or they're doing research.
[00:03:22.740]We see dieticians who are working in the school system,
[00:03:25.940]so maybe they're planning menus, or they're working in
[00:03:30.100]the kitchen in terms of staffing the kitchen.
[00:03:32.930]We also see that in the clinical side, too.
[00:03:35.220]So we have dieticians who are managing hospital kitchens,
[00:03:38.970]and managing employees, and then we see those dieticians
[00:03:42.150]who are actually working alongside the nurses
[00:03:44.940]and the doctors, and all of the different practitioners
[00:03:48.190]who are managing nutrition for a patient,
[00:03:51.360]and that's actually what I did for a number of years
[00:03:54.800]before I stepped into more of a communicator role.
[00:03:57.500]A lot of times when we hear a word like dietician
[00:03:59.660]we're not quite clear about what it is, let alone all
[00:04:02.670]the different career paths you can take with it.
[00:04:04.380]Right, right, well the first, four, what?
[00:04:07.510]The first three letters, excuse me, of the word diet,
[00:04:10.870]are die (laughter).
[00:04:12.550]Good point.
[00:04:13.490]So it doesn't always sound appealing,
[00:04:16.160]and a lot of people think dieticians are food police,
[00:04:19.830]and I swear we're not (laughter).
[00:04:21.710]I love food, which is why I'm a dietician,
[00:04:24.660]so I love talking about food, I love talking
[00:04:26.970]about how to prepare food, and really talking about
[00:04:29.360]how food nourishes us and can really set us up for success.
[00:04:34.310]Okay, I know also you teach at the University
[00:04:36.700]of Nebraska, Lincoln, so tell us about your classes
[00:04:38.920]that you're teaching as well, and why you do that.
[00:04:40.760]Right, so my favorite professor in college
[00:04:45.010]at UNL came to me a few years ago and asked me to teach
[00:04:49.970]Nutrition 250, which is Human Nutrition and Metabolism,
[00:04:53.870]and this semester I'm actually teaching
[00:04:56.620]Nutrition for Optimal Wellness, so it's really fun
[00:05:00.130]because there's a different mix of students in there.
[00:05:02.960]They're going to be future dieticians, PTs, OTs,
[00:05:07.810]personal trainers, strength and conditioning coaches,
[00:05:10.800]and it's all about the application of nutrition.
[00:05:14.220]That's so interesting to think about how you're teaching,
[00:05:17.850]and obviously podcasting, but just the influence
[00:05:20.970]and reach you have on so many different professions,
[00:05:24.020]and even entrepreneurs, by doing what you do.
[00:05:28.115](soft jazz music)
[00:05:30.410]What I found is after I left my clinical role,
[00:05:34.360]I didn't have any colleagues around me anymore.
[00:05:37.750]You know how you would sit in a break room,
[00:05:39.570]and you've got people around you, I didn't have
[00:05:41.030]that anymore, and I really found that on social media.
[00:05:45.470]I remember jumping on Twitter and doing searches
[00:05:48.320]for dieticians, and I found dieticians who are
[00:05:50.260]all over the country, and so that really inspired me then
[00:05:53.940]to learn about what they were doing,
[00:05:56.380]and how they were running businesses, which really
[00:06:00.590]encouraged me to make that jump into entrepreneurship.
[00:06:04.120]So was there a defining moment that you decided
[00:06:06.480]to start a business, or was it more
[00:06:09.380]just a thoughtful process?
[00:06:11.120]Tell us a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey.
[00:06:13.610]Well, I was raised by entrepreneurs,
[00:06:15.800]and I married an entrepreneur, and I have a lot of friends
[00:06:18.530]who are entrepreneurs, so, (laughter),
[00:06:20.927]I think, So you're surrounded.
[00:06:21.760]I'm surrounded, I'm surrounded, but there was a moment,
[00:06:25.950]and it was actually again when I was working
[00:06:28.760]as a clinical dietician, my role in that was to calculate
[00:06:33.920]tube feeds for patients, so just how babies
[00:06:37.440]have formula that they have to get fed every few hours,
[00:06:41.460]well when we have a critical patient,
[00:06:43.200]we do the same thing for them.
[00:06:44.970]I am not a huge fan of math, I mean, I can do math,
[00:06:49.340]but it's not my favorite thing, but I remember sitting
[00:06:52.560]in a corner spot, near a patient's room,
[00:06:56.090]and I'm calculating tube feeds thinking,
[00:06:58.810]what am I doing here?
[00:07:00.630]Because I was so appreciative to have the job,
[00:07:05.070]but I knew I wasn't using my skills
[00:07:07.307]and my talents to my full potential,
[00:07:11.020]and so that was when I said I need to figure out
[00:07:14.440]what I'm going to do here.
[00:07:16.300]You think your parents being entrepreneurs
[00:07:18.090]had any influence on your decision to start a business?
[00:07:22.980]Absolutely, because I saw risk being played out
[00:07:26.700]my whole life, in terms of the things that my dad did,
[00:07:30.790]and the support that my mom gave him through that whole
[00:07:33.930]process, and especially too having siblings
[00:07:38.440]who are also entrepreneurial as well,
[00:07:41.180]I think just knowing that, okay, so you take a risk,
[00:07:44.730]if you fail, it's okay, you get back up and you figure out
[00:07:48.230]what you're going to do, and so when I took that risk,
[00:07:52.100]it was really kind of scary
[00:07:54.060]because I thought maybe we would have a runway,
[00:07:56.920]with my husband and I thought, well, maybe there's a runway
[00:07:59.250]of time here that I would have maybe a three to six month
[00:08:02.930]window before I really started, or needed to have income,
[00:08:07.150]and my husband was actually let go from his job
[00:08:10.440]a month after I had quit mine, and so, right.
[00:08:15.160]I know, I just, it's such an amazing story.
[00:08:19.395](laughter)
[00:08:20.300]I know probably most people would freak out,
[00:08:22.670]and we did freak out, I mean I'm not going to say
[00:08:24.500]we didn't freak out, but I think we knew
[00:08:27.590]that it was going to be okay.
[00:08:29.100]And my husband was also raised by entrepreneurs,
[00:08:32.130]and so I think we both knew that, alright, this is when
[00:08:35.590]it's going to get real and we will do this together.
[00:08:40.100]That's so interesting to think about the timing
[00:08:42.360]of that all, do you ever think there was a reason?
[00:08:45.660]Like the universe was trying to tell you something
[00:08:47.690]within that timing?
[00:08:49.860]I don't know if you're ever truly ready for
[00:08:53.230]entrepreneurship, and I think we just were given that push.
[00:08:57.650]And granted, I made the choice to leave my job,
[00:09:01.660]but I could have sat on that for a very long time,
[00:09:05.600]but I felt at peace in that, and having the faith background
[00:09:11.240]that I do, I just knew that it was going to be okay.
[00:09:15.413](soft jazz music)
[00:09:17.750]We're sitting here, and we're actually recording this
[00:09:19.370]in your very cool podcast studio in downtown Lincoln,
[00:09:23.740]but why are you here and how does this all
[00:09:26.700]connect back to rural?
[00:09:27.880]I mean, we have you on as a rural maverick,
[00:09:29.400]I'm just gonna state it, and we wanna dive into that
[00:09:31.760]a little bit.
[00:09:32.593]Sure, so, when I was in grad school,
[00:09:36.670]I remember looking at nutrition communications
[00:09:40.640]as a potential avenue for me, and one of my professors
[00:09:45.170]laughed in my face.
[00:09:46.960]She said, Amber, if you are going to do communications,
[00:09:50.140]you need to live in either LA, or New York,
[00:09:53.350]you can't possibly do communications from Lincoln, Nebraska.
[00:09:57.277](laughter)
[00:09:58.235]Wait a second, back up, back up.
[00:09:59.260]I know.
[00:10:00.240]I'm, A, I'm really sad that that happened
[00:10:02.642]at a university, but B, this is a critical communications
[00:10:06.990]piece, I mean we really can't tell people these things
[00:10:09.750]and send that message, but it sounds like obviously
[00:10:12.620]you had the great reaction to it, but that's just
[00:10:15.830]disappointing, I mean honestly it's disappointing,
[00:10:17.550]but I imagine that made you a little bit more of a rebel.
[00:10:20.491](laughter)
[00:10:21.324]Well, exactly, I think it really helped
[00:10:23.140]motivate me, and you'll be thrilled to know
[00:10:25.090]that this individual is no longer at the university,
[00:10:29.060]but honestly, social media, again, showed me that
[00:10:33.060]the world was flat, and it didn't matter where I lived,
[00:10:36.430]and so I could live in Lincoln, Nebraska,
[00:10:39.570]as we've talked about before, people have
[00:10:41.910]described Nebraska as a flyover state, that's not
[00:10:44.660]necessarily the case anymore because of digital
[00:10:48.070]communications, you can have those opportunities
[00:10:50.930]wherever you live.
[00:10:52.590]That conversation definitely motivated me to move forward.
[00:10:55.720]Well that's why we need rural mavericks
[00:10:57.870]and entrepreneurs out there to think about what people
[00:11:00.820]are saying, but then do what they want and need to do,
[00:11:04.630]so we so appreciate that, because one of the things
[00:11:06.740]we hear a lot at the Rural Futures Institute,
[00:11:08.770]and obviously technology is a huge part of our focus,
[00:11:12.550]so is rural-urban collaboration, you've connected
[00:11:15.900]all of that, you're putting together rural and urban,
[00:11:18.970]you're connecting people through technology,
[00:11:20.940]but you're also helping them have a more positive
[00:11:23.660]outcome doing it.
[00:11:25.413](soft jazz music)
[00:11:27.920]So tell us what you see as success for your business?
[00:11:31.340]Where do you ultimately see this going, what's your vision?
[00:11:34.460]Not to keep going back to this conversation
[00:11:38.140]around social media, but it really did have an impact
[00:11:40.660]in that conversation because I had a really unique
[00:11:45.040]perspective in that I got to see what consumers
[00:11:48.190]were saying about food, and nutrition, and that allowed
[00:11:52.190]me immediate access to them, to be able to answer
[00:11:56.070]their questions no matter where they lived,
[00:11:58.170]and so I could jump in at that point, answer their
[00:12:01.620]questions, and build that relationship.
[00:12:04.370]And it's been interesting to see, again,
[00:12:07.370]the evolution of those conversations and how we've
[00:12:10.270]advanced talking about food, nutrition, and agriculture,
[00:12:14.060]and how the dietician can work with scientists,
[00:12:17.140]and work with farmers, to really communicate that message
[00:12:20.510]about where food comes from.
[00:12:22.590]And I think that does influence peoples' thoughts
[00:12:24.600]about rural, very much so, what do you see in that space?
[00:12:28.060]How do you see people maybe connecting,
[00:12:30.500]or needing to reconnect, and maybe how they would
[00:12:33.660]have their thoughts influenced about rural
[00:12:35.700]and where food comes from.
[00:12:37.800]Right, well it's interesting because I think
[00:12:40.240]the stat is one in four are connected to the farm,
[00:12:43.620]or connected to ag in some way,
[00:12:46.400]and that didn't used to be the case.
[00:12:48.970]Where most of us used to be connected to the farm,
[00:12:51.180]or have a direct connection, and so consumers are being
[00:12:54.500]more removed from their food, and so I think it's
[00:12:57.980]really, really important to see our farmers
[00:13:01.850]and producers who are jumping into that conversation,
[00:13:05.860]and I see myself more as a reinforcer of those messages,
[00:13:10.880]and also helping them to understand,
[00:13:12.640]here's how you talk to somebody about food,
[00:13:14.680]and how it's produced, same thing with the scientists,
[00:13:18.030]because as you know, being around researchers, they can use
[00:13:21.210]some really big words, that can sound really scary.
[00:13:24.990]In fact, I was on this tour a few months ago
[00:13:28.330]and we were talking about, it had to do with canned food
[00:13:33.110]and the scientist had said something about
[00:13:35.170]ascorbic acid being added, and I remember this mom blogger
[00:13:39.900]behind me freaked out, she didn't understand
[00:13:43.390]that that's another term for vitamin C, and so being able
[00:13:47.860]to I think have those conversations with farmers,
[00:13:50.660]and scientists, and say, here's how we can put it into
[00:13:53.580]everyday terms for consumers to understand so that
[00:13:56.570]they don't fear their food.
[00:13:58.680]Yeah, I really appreciate that, because it's true.
[00:14:00.760]I mean, as an academic you're sort of trained in one way,
[00:14:03.630]and so that's how you write, and speak.
[00:14:06.240]But the end user, so many times, of that information,
[00:14:10.710]they're not in that space, but they just want that
[00:14:13.070]practical, what do I need to know?
[00:14:16.260]Just in time information, and I think people
[00:14:19.300]like you are really helping bridge
[00:14:20.870]that gap, and it's needed, it's been needed for a long time.
[00:14:24.430]The university and other places have talked about this need
[00:14:27.410]for ag literacy, food literacy, these types of things,
[00:14:31.680]but starting in the middle of a cornfield is a really
[00:14:34.330]hard place for people to learn.
[00:14:36.080]It's a really hard place, and we call it Ag Twitter.
[00:14:39.980](laughter)
[00:14:41.410]I think, again, social media really brought some community
[00:14:45.820]to farmers and producers to see that they weren't alone,
[00:14:49.540]and that they could align themselves strategically
[00:14:52.570]with dieticians, and farmers, and other food communicators
[00:14:56.530]who are willing to help them.
[00:14:58.755](soft jazz music)
[00:15:00.290]Welcome to Bold Voices, our segment with rockstar
[00:15:03.090]students from the University of Nebraska, who are making
[00:15:06.140]a difference in rural.
[00:15:08.810]Hey podcast listeners, it's Katie, production specialist
[00:15:11.840]of the Rural Futures podcast.
[00:15:13.820]With me today is Trevor Harlow, a senior political science
[00:15:17.500]and environmental studies dual major at the
[00:15:19.790]University of Nebraska, Omaha, welcome Trevor.
[00:15:23.040]Hi, thanks for having me.
[00:15:24.910]And thanks for being on, now are you from rural,
[00:15:27.650]or why do you care so much about rural?
[00:15:29.730]So, originally I was born and raised in Waterloo,
[00:15:32.820]Nebraska, which is a small town, but I just,
[00:15:35.990]as somebody who's really interested in administration
[00:15:38.910]at both a city, state, and federal level,
[00:15:41.730]I think it's really important and really critical
[00:15:43.730]to look at those different societies, those different
[00:15:47.100]ways of living in those different communities based upon
[00:15:50.350]the urban and rural pipeline, and see how they interact
[00:15:54.020]and how they affect the overall functioning of a society.
[00:15:57.430]Yeah, and I know that you got to really dive deep
[00:16:00.030]into that aspect of rural communities this summer
[00:16:02.750]through RFI's Student Servership.
[00:16:04.650]Yeah, for sure, so this past summer I spent my time
[00:16:08.330]in Red Cloud, Nebraska, which is about three hours
[00:16:11.640]from Omaha, just on the Kansas border, and really what I
[00:16:15.260]was doing is that city planning, exactly.
[00:16:18.090]We worked on developing a comprehensive economic development
[00:16:21.540]plan, so really that gave me a chance to critically look
[00:16:25.390]at a rural based community, and how they operate,
[00:16:28.750]what they're doing good, what they can be doing better,
[00:16:31.360]and just come up with an idea with them of how they
[00:16:34.510]can keep getting better in the future.
[00:16:36.880]And from your experience being immersed
[00:16:38.590]in that rural community, what do you see
[00:16:40.600]as the biggest opportunity in rural?
[00:16:43.450]A rural community, what's so special about it,
[00:16:46.050]is since it's small and it's integrated with its
[00:16:48.680]citizens so well, you can come into a community like
[00:16:51.720]that and immediately become a prominent, known, and valued
[00:16:55.760]member of the community just by wanting to be active,
[00:16:58.830]which is so cool, so really anything you're interested in,
[00:17:01.810]you can come there, you can make it known,
[00:17:03.840]and you can show your passion for it,
[00:17:06.280]I would say anybody, no matter what you're interested in,
[00:17:08.800]you can always find some aspect of that in rural,
[00:17:11.400]just because of how community driven those places are.
[00:17:14.440]So how has RFI and your whole servership experience
[00:17:18.840]really impacted your college career, and then
[00:17:21.350]your plans looking forward?
[00:17:23.560]It's been one of the biggest impacts I've had in college,
[00:17:25.890]I would probably even say the biggest impact,
[00:17:27.910]honestly, because prior to that I wasn't really sure
[00:17:32.180]what I wanted to do, and I wasn't really sure
[00:17:34.500]how I wanted to go about doing it, but just getting
[00:17:36.780]an opportunity just to work in that kind of setting,
[00:17:39.870]city planning, developing a plan, critically analyzing
[00:17:43.900]a community and looking at its benefits and what it can
[00:17:46.160]improve upon, that really got me thinking
[00:17:48.290]about that the public administration route is what I
[00:17:50.800]wanna do, and that's the future I wanna pursue,
[00:17:53.640]so that was something I had in my mind beforehand
[00:17:56.100]but it really helped me solidify that,
[00:17:57.900]and it gave me a great baseline training for it.
[00:18:01.210]So, do you have any advice for students who may be
[00:18:04.410]interested in rural communities and city planning?
[00:18:07.530]I would definitely say the biggest one,
[00:18:09.710]especially with rural communities, is just to go out
[00:18:12.150]and be there, I mean you don't have to live in one
[00:18:14.330]for 10 weeks like we did this summer to be immersed
[00:18:17.340]in them, you can just go and you can experience it,
[00:18:19.907]and just see what it's about, and maybe it's not for
[00:18:22.670]everyone, but I think until you give it a try of just
[00:18:25.960]going out and experiencing it, you're never gonna know.
[00:18:28.600]And it's also just important to keep your options open
[00:18:31.940]because like I said earlier, all those communities
[00:18:34.640]you really can do anything you want to do
[00:18:37.550]if you're passionate, so just leave it open,
[00:18:39.930]try to experience it, and just see what it can be for you.
[00:18:42.770]Yeah, I think that whole concept of being open
[00:18:45.170]to the opportunity that lies in rural is so critical
[00:18:49.180]for us college students, and I know at RFI that we are
[00:18:52.620]very thankful that you were open to this opportunity
[00:18:55.882]of RFI servership.
[00:18:57.413]Yes, for sure.
[00:18:58.920]So thank you Trevor for talking to us today.
[00:19:01.180]Thank you very much.
[00:19:02.955](soft jazz music)
[00:19:07.330]We've had a theme at the Rural Futures Institute
[00:19:09.590]of why rural, why now?
[00:19:12.290]And I think people are a little challenged around rural,
[00:19:14.750]understanding rural, and so one of the things
[00:19:16.910]that we've talked about is the importance
[00:19:19.670]of where your food comes from.
[00:19:21.590]The world's food supply, and even water supply, largely,
[00:19:24.710]come from rural, so if we're gonna have a more
[00:19:27.060]sustainable future for all, rural and urban have to work
[00:19:30.810]together, but people have to value rural,
[00:19:33.610]and help the people living there.
[00:19:35.860]I think that if we're seeing more people who are removed
[00:19:39.830]from food and agriculture, there is less respect,
[00:19:44.030]and there has been less respect in the past few years,
[00:19:48.470]especially online.
[00:19:50.650]It's amazing when I see the conversation about farmers
[00:19:54.420]and producers and people living in rural communities,
[00:19:57.220]and I'm just floored, because when I was little my
[00:20:03.030]grandparents actually farmed, and I remember my mom and dad
[00:20:07.210]telling me that I needed to appreciate what was on my plate
[00:20:11.050]because a farmer worked really hard to produce that.
[00:20:13.940]So I feel like I have a very different perspective,
[00:20:16.870]or had a different perspective growing up,
[00:20:19.460]I never would have insulted a farmer.
[00:20:22.480]And so some of the conversation that I see right now
[00:20:25.040]just seems to be a little negative, it's a lack of respect,
[00:20:29.030]and I think it's because it's a lack of understanding
[00:20:31.900]of what people do, of what farmers do.
[00:20:35.950]We've talked a lot about how do we create better
[00:20:38.690]research questions, and better conversations,
[00:20:41.490]so it's not an either or, but it's a both and world.
[00:20:44.780]Right, when I even look at the curriculum
[00:20:47.010]for dieticians, I work with a lot of students and it's so
[00:20:53.090]interesting to me to hear their thoughts on food production.
[00:20:57.760]They've been led to believe that the word
[00:20:59.190]processed is bad, and (laughter).
[00:21:03.390]Yeah, I can see that, right, right.
[00:21:05.030]It's having conversations like that to teach them
[00:21:09.030]that you are going to be, the future dietician,
[00:21:12.700]the future trusted food and nutrition professional,
[00:21:15.890]you have to be able to answer questions about how
[00:21:18.440]food is produced, because so often we hear things
[00:21:21.470]from another person, or those soundbites, and we just pass
[00:21:24.860]them on as if they're truth, without being skeptical,
[00:21:28.900]and so I think that's a really important part
[00:21:30.620]of the conversation as well.
[00:21:32.520](soft jazz music)
[00:21:33.830]You talked about processed food and the negative vibes
[00:21:37.110]people get from that, so tell us a little bit more
[00:21:39.530]about why that's not always a negative?
[00:21:41.630]So even canned fruits and vegetables, it's a processed
[00:21:45.430]food, and I know that folks will tend to think
[00:21:49.270]negatively about a canned food, where actually some canned
[00:21:52.700]foods can be very nutritious because, as you know,
[00:21:55.980]some are peaked right when they're the most nutritious,
[00:21:59.440]and even using that scary sounding ascorbic acid,
[00:22:04.230]which is vitamin C, that adds some really great nutrition,
[00:22:09.010]and so just because it says processed, or you think of it as
[00:22:12.090]processed, processed can actually be a really good thing.
[00:22:15.970]Even when you pick an apple, you're technically processing,
[00:22:19.590]so there are a lot of ways that you can view that word
[00:22:22.910]and I think we just need to shift that word into being
[00:22:26.510]more of a positive than a negative.
[00:22:28.985](soft jazz music)
[00:22:31.080]Well I know one of your areas of expertise
[00:22:33.410]is fake news, and I loved reading about that a little
[00:22:37.517]bit more when you gave us some background info
[00:22:39.870]about yourself, so tell us, what exactly is fake news?
[00:22:43.610]And how do we get around that so we are
[00:22:45.780]getting the real information?
[00:22:47.360]Well it's funny because that term, obviously has been
[00:22:50.380]used a lot in the last couple of years, but dieticians
[00:22:54.130]have been dealing with fake news forever.
[00:22:57.510]Because as you know, we can get food nutrition
[00:23:00.910]information from anywhere.
[00:23:02.620]If it's on the internet, it must be true.
[00:23:04.290]Right, that's right.
[00:23:05.789]And now we see that fake information being presented
[00:23:09.240]in those documentaries, or what I like to call
[00:23:11.280]shockumentaries, and it's so easy to hear from a blogger
[00:23:16.210]who's not educated about food nutrition, or agriculture,
[00:23:21.020]but they've built this massive following and they're
[00:23:24.640]considered an influencer, and they're spreading that,
[00:23:28.210]what I would call fake news.
[00:23:30.640]The great thing about technology is you can build
[00:23:32.550]a platform, I think the challenge is anybody can build
[00:23:35.530]a platform, so it is confusing, I think, to see
[00:23:39.090]what's real, what's not, how do you sift through it,
[00:23:42.555]and really get information that you can use
[00:23:44.090]in a positive way.
[00:23:45.320]I tell people that you need to look at whoever is writing
[00:23:49.240]that article, look for an author name, see if they
[00:23:52.110]have any credentials behind their name, see what their
[00:23:55.840]history is, who are they associated with,
[00:23:59.150]who's funding them, I think that,
[00:24:01.130]that all goes into, Creative bias.
[00:24:02.650]being skeptical and doing the work
[00:24:05.950]of looking at that information.
[00:24:09.077](soft jazz music)
[00:24:11.520]I wanna know about your leadership style,
[00:24:13.530]how would you characterize yourself as a leader?
[00:24:17.130]Well I think I told you this earlier,
[00:24:19.070]I don't really know how to answer that,
[00:24:21.810]because I've been in leadership roles, and it's also
[00:24:26.290]awkward as an influencer to be considered a leader
[00:24:29.810]but I realize as an influencer you are a leader,
[00:24:33.510]but I would say I love winning others over,
[00:24:37.040]I have that woo factor.
[00:24:38.270]You do, I know, you're into Gallup Strengths like I am,
[00:24:41.140]and you definitely have the woo factor.
[00:24:43.320]And I'm also an activator, so I love to start things,
[00:24:47.820]I struggle with the finish, as far as really
[00:24:50.760]carrying it out, but I just, I love to get people together,
[00:24:54.370]and I love to work on things in groups, with people,
[00:24:58.220]and that's weird as a solopreneur, which is why I stay
[00:25:01.590]really active professionally within my state organization
[00:25:05.840]of dieticians, which is the Nebraska Academy
[00:25:08.230]of Nutrition and Dietetics, so I was president of that group
[00:25:13.020]about two years ago.
[00:25:14.580]I love to encourage, especially other RDs,
[00:25:18.450]to have a little more confidence in themselves and their
[00:25:21.050]skills in terms of asking for money in their job,
[00:25:25.910]in terms of wanting other advancements in their job,
[00:25:29.960]and it's been such a fun thing to see my colleagues
[00:25:33.300]advance in the last few years.
[00:25:35.460]Now why do you think that's such a challenge for people?
[00:25:38.040]To actually ask for what they want and feel like they're
[00:25:41.600]valuable enough to receive it?
[00:25:44.030]It's tough, especially as a new dietician, I'll never
[00:25:48.750]forget this, one of my first jobs with a master's degree,
[00:25:54.010]I was getting paid about $12 an hour.
[00:25:57.130]Oh wow.
[00:25:57.963]And so I switched positions, I found a new job,
[00:26:01.070]and even then, it was pretty low, it was about $17
[00:26:04.740]an hour, and then I found a cross posting from another
[00:26:07.990]position, about an hour away, and I was able to take that
[00:26:11.420]to my employer and say, look at this, this is a five dollar
[00:26:15.510]difference, and at the time I had a boss who was also
[00:26:22.210]a woman, she was incredible, and she took that
[00:26:26.270]directly to administration, and I was able to get
[00:26:30.060]a pay increase, but I think it's tough, especially when
[00:26:33.170]you're a new graduate, and when you are a woman,
[00:26:36.390]and I just, I think, I knew that there was more,
[00:26:39.930]I knew that she could do something, so there was
[00:26:42.360]some trust there, but that's hard because I think
[00:26:45.300]we get intimidated, I don't think sometimes
[00:26:47.540]we have enough confidence to ask, and if you don't ask
[00:26:51.800]you'll never know what the answer is.
[00:26:53.800]That's right, I mean good for you for just asking
[00:26:56.570]and trying that, but what gave you the confidence
[00:26:59.650]to go forward and do that?
[00:27:01.830]Well, it had been validated by another job posting,
[00:27:06.050]I knew that I could probably go there and get that job
[00:27:08.800]and get paid that amount, and so that gave me
[00:27:11.730]some confidence, to be able to go and to ask,
[00:27:16.030]but naturally too, like we talked about leadership earlier,
[00:27:21.690]I wanted to set an example for the rest of my peers,
[00:27:25.590]and my colleagues, to say, you could do this,
[00:27:28.400]and even as a new graduate it was nice to be able
[00:27:31.410]to get that done.
[00:27:33.440]Well, and do you feel like as a solopreneur,
[00:27:35.480]which is a choice you're making, being a solopreneur,
[00:27:39.250]that you're still paving and blazing that trail,
[00:27:43.380]I would say especially for other female entrepreneurs,
[00:27:45.740]we've talked about this on our pre-combo,
[00:27:49.450]Nebraska's 50 out of 50 states for females
[00:27:52.770]in entrepreneurship, so it's always exciting to see
[00:27:55.630]a woman in business going for it,
[00:27:58.870]but how do you think, as a state, how could we
[00:28:01.830]foster more women in entrepreneurship?
[00:28:05.250]Well I know for myself, when I was considering
[00:28:09.840]possibly doing a tech startup, this was years ago, too,
[00:28:13.660]I had competed in a Startup Weekend project,
[00:28:16.880]or a Startup Weekend event, and my team,
[00:28:21.230]we won that event, and so it was kind of fun
[00:28:24.580]to just, I guess imagine what it could be like
[00:28:29.150]to maybe run a startup and what that could look like,
[00:28:32.140]and at the same time, my husband was also launching
[00:28:36.150]his startup, and we both quickly realized that we would
[00:28:40.410]be competing for funding, and not that I didn't want
[00:28:44.900]to compete against my husband, but I also wanted
[00:28:47.180]to stay married.
[00:28:48.340]Right, no, I get that, I get that.
[00:28:50.280]And so, I think there is, there's something
[00:28:54.630]to that competitive spirit, I don't know a lot of women
[00:28:58.990]who have that competitive spirit when it comes
[00:29:01.340]to entrepreneurship.
[00:29:03.450]I think the ones that you see who are doing it well,
[00:29:08.360]there is a spirit of competitiveness, and I think
[00:29:10.560]you have to have that.
[00:29:12.350]Yeah, I think, actually competition is one of my
[00:29:15.440]top five, and I know Katelyn Ideus, our executive
[00:29:17.980]producer is high in competition as well,
[00:29:20.419](laughter)
[00:29:21.252]when it comes to those Gallup Strengths.
[00:29:22.680]It's kind of interesting how that can play out
[00:29:24.860]because I think, also people don't expect it.
[00:29:27.700]Right, right, well, I've heard this phrase about
[00:29:31.690]collaboration over competition, and I would say
[00:29:37.030]you have to have both, you have to have that competitive
[00:29:39.770]spirit but you also have to learn how to work with other
[00:29:43.360]people, because that is a part of being successful.
[00:29:47.850]I know I wouldn't be where I'm at today without my tribe,
[00:29:51.100]without my team of folks, and so you have to have both.
[00:29:55.434](soft jazz music)
[00:29:57.730]Tell us a little bit more about what brings
[00:30:00.880]you joy in your life, I mean obviously
[00:30:02.820]Healthy Under Pressure, and ways to be healthy,
[00:30:05.650]and I love the way you talk about that,
[00:30:07.490]that it's the whole piece of physical, spiritual,
[00:30:10.460]nutrition, all of that, so tell us how you do that.
[00:30:15.160]Well, when we think about wellness, it's so easy
[00:30:17.750]to just focus on, what did you have for lunch that day?
[00:30:21.150]What kind of workout did you get in?
[00:30:23.210]And when I see the top 10 causes of death,
[00:30:29.890]suicide now is included in that top 10 list,
[00:30:33.490]in fact it's past, I believe, certain types of cancer
[00:30:38.110]and heart disease as being one of the top causes of death,
[00:30:43.090]and so there's a lot that goes into that,
[00:30:47.120]and so you have to consider that it's not just
[00:30:49.850]about your physical wellness.
[00:30:52.170]We have to look at our emotional, and our spiritual,
[00:30:55.860]and our mental health, and so I think it's a mix
[00:31:00.340]of what you're doing physically, including that
[00:31:02.600]good nutrition, getting some exercise, but also how
[00:31:05.840]you're nourishing your mind and your spirit.
[00:31:08.190]And I saw that personally with myself and my husband,
[00:31:13.000]we're both entrepreneurs, and of course when you're
[00:31:16.380]running a business, it's so tough, and it's tough
[00:31:20.390]to take care of yourself, so we both quickly realized
[00:31:24.520]that there was more that we needed to do in terms
[00:31:27.500]of our spiritual and our mental health.
[00:31:30.730]So how do you keep those in check?
[00:31:32.850]I know you help others with it, what are some things
[00:31:34.840]you do for yourselves?
[00:31:36.250]Right, so, of course with nutrition I make sure
[00:31:40.430]that we try to eat a lot of our meals at home, I do online
[00:31:44.380]grocery shopping just to help keep on track there,
[00:31:48.960]but also making time for physical activity I think is super
[00:31:52.620]important, getting outside is really important.
[00:31:55.820]Actually, so this is my hack with Peloton,
[00:31:59.070]I know you said you kind of like to bike,
[00:32:01.410]I bought a used spin bike and then I just use
[00:32:04.970]the Peleton app, and I have found that that's one
[00:32:07.830]of my favorite ways to exercise, because I love
[00:32:10.300]the music, and I love somebody coaching me through it.
[00:32:13.620]So that's one of my favorite forms of exercise right now.
[00:32:18.210]Maybe someday I'll get the real Peleton bike (laughter).
[00:32:21.780]I love a biking hack, that's awesome.
[00:32:23.750]Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:32:24.680]And then in terms of just our spiritual wellness,
[00:32:27.740]and our mental health, we gather with a group of friends
[00:32:32.560]every week, so we attend church, we think that's really
[00:32:35.940]important to surround yourselves with people who can
[00:32:38.910]worship together, and so that's something that I know
[00:32:42.360]has been really important for us, and having a small group
[00:32:45.440]of friends, too, to walk with us, and encourage us,
[00:32:49.340]and to also ask us what those struggles are,
[00:32:52.960]and for us to be self aware, to be honest with them,
[00:32:56.410]has also been really important for us.
[00:32:58.900]And I think this holistic approach to life
[00:33:01.450]has been such an advancement in society, and kind of a newer
[00:33:05.130]change, relatively, in the history of time,
[00:33:08.640]but how do you see this all evolving into the future,
[00:33:11.243]and I'm gonna ask you to put your futurist hat on,
[00:33:13.960]you're on the cutting edge of your work, and you are
[00:33:17.030]an influencer in this space, so how do you see the
[00:33:19.780]evolution, what do you see as the future of your
[00:33:23.050]area of nutrition, holistic living, all of these types
[00:33:27.320]of things put together?
[00:33:29.400]Well, as you know, I think the stigma of
[00:33:31.520]mental health is, it's changing, and that's encouraging,
[00:33:36.815]to see that perspective.
[00:33:38.420]I also think in terms of nutrition we're going to see
[00:33:42.110]that trend of what we call nutrigenomics,
[00:33:45.400]so it's very individualized nutrition care,
[00:33:49.190]and I think that that's going to be the future
[00:33:52.820]of wellness, because right now, as you know,
[00:33:56.490]a lot of our recommendations are based on groups
[00:33:59.570]of populations, very general nutrition recommendations,
[00:34:04.690]which are good, I think in general USDA,
[00:34:07.890]the My Plate Plan, is actually a very good,
[00:34:10.510]healthy, balanced plate, but the role of the registered
[00:34:14.040]dietician I think will be to get in there and see
[00:34:17.380]how do we really balance that plate for that one individual,
[00:34:21.840]and again applying nutrition science, nutrigenomics,
[00:34:26.960]into developing that specialized plan for people.
[00:34:30.830]Do you see some technologies now that are starting
[00:34:33.300]to move things in that direction?
[00:34:35.860]Oh, absolutely, I mean I think even when you see
[00:34:38.860]the genetic testing going on where you can find
[00:34:41.690]what your background information is, and all of that,
[00:34:45.690]we're definitely seeing some of that started, and we also
[00:34:49.300]see people who are doing a lot of studies right now,
[00:34:52.440]in nutrigenomics, that is a really hot thing in nutrition.
[00:34:56.640]Also in addition to looking at the microbiome,
[00:34:59.710]we're seeing a lot of really interesting studies
[00:35:03.710]looking at the microbiome and how it really impacts
[00:35:06.770]health and future health.
[00:35:08.750]And just to learn more about this, this is where
[00:35:12.290]I think as a futurist I just become a sponge,
[00:35:14.500]and it's so awesome to learn from people like yourself
[00:35:17.580]that are on the cutting edge of these technologies,
[00:35:20.520]because as we think about the future, and a lot of this
[00:35:23.320]is already here, we're seeing this exponential growth
[00:35:25.870]in these spaces, but at the Rural Futures Institute
[00:35:28.760]we've also been really trying to help people understand
[00:35:31.350]how can this help better the future of rural places?
[00:35:36.180]How can advancements in science and technology
[00:35:39.100]really create a system that people can live,
[00:35:43.000]and thrive, in those rural areas.
[00:35:45.810]What are your thoughts around that?
[00:35:47.620]Right, well, it's about access to communication,
[00:35:51.310]and access to people who can help them.
[00:35:55.292]I look at even the field of dietetics, and how far
[00:35:58.500]we've come in the last five years,
[00:36:01.890]because we didn't used to have these platforms
[00:36:04.100]where you could connect to somebody virtually
[00:36:07.420]and be able to talk to a dietician and have that
[00:36:10.820]safely monitored, but now we do, and so I think
[00:36:13.940]it's going to be really interesting to see
[00:36:16.040]even how that evolves in terms of connecting to an RD
[00:36:20.240]who can specifically help you with that issue that you're
[00:36:23.020]dealing with, not just a general nutrition issue.
[00:36:27.609]I do quite a bit of work with the healthcare sector
[00:36:29.940]in terms of what does the future look like,
[00:36:31.850]and recently published a paper on the future of
[00:36:33.900]rural healthcare, and one of the things that I think
[00:36:36.860]could be integrated more into some of that
[00:36:38.500]is exactly what you do, that health does equal life
[00:36:41.800]in so many ways, so if we don't have our health
[00:36:44.850]we're not able to do much.
[00:36:46.510]If you don't feel well, you're not as productive,
[00:36:49.200]you're not enjoying life, you're not out there,
[00:36:51.830]but I think in many ways the medical profession
[00:36:53.840]is still a little bit of, what's the diagnosis?
[00:36:57.130]Here's the medication, versus thinking about,
[00:37:00.600]could we personalize your diet?
[00:37:02.120]Could we look into this?
[00:37:03.030]Could we use some technology to do that?
[00:37:06.010]So you don't have to have a hospital exactly where
[00:37:07.870]you live, maybe there's some in home pieces to that.
[00:37:10.720]Right, well it's about treatment versus prevention,
[00:37:14.710]and dieticians are positioned to really help with that
[00:37:18.360]prevention piece, which is why I do what I do, and why I
[00:37:23.020]communicate what I do, I think that's super important.
[00:37:26.604](soft jazz music)
[00:37:27.910]Obviously I believe nutrition is really important,
[00:37:31.410]but I really cannot stand it when I see those messages of,
[00:37:35.810]this is going to cure this disease, we can't say that.
[00:37:39.820]Not everyone is the same, or has that same background,
[00:37:43.670]knowledge, and information, and so I think we have
[00:37:46.610]to be very, very careful about those messages.
[00:37:50.150]Pointing back to that phrase food is medicine,
[00:37:53.930]of course, I think food is so important, it can be
[00:37:56.830]nourishment, it can definitely help with prevention,
[00:38:00.300]but food does not replace medicine.
[00:38:03.260]So if you have high blood pressure, if you have
[00:38:06.100]diabetes, please keep taking your medication.
[00:38:09.820]Food can be a tool that can be used to help you manage
[00:38:12.910]those disease states, but we also need science,
[00:38:16.850]and technology, I think, to help us assist with that.
[00:38:20.710]No, I think that's a great way to word that,
[00:38:22.900]and I think that coming together with all that
[00:38:26.400]is great advice for listeners.
[00:38:29.022](soft jazz music)
[00:38:31.290]So what top three tips would you have for those
[00:38:34.620]people listening there, in terms of being a leader,
[00:38:37.010]an entrepreneur, a maverick in your space?
[00:38:40.460]I would say don't isolate yourself.
[00:38:43.320]I think it can be so easy to do what you do
[00:38:46.770]and not pay attention to the world around you,
[00:38:49.140]and not think that it's important to build
[00:38:52.110]those relationships, and what I've seen, especially with
[00:38:56.760]the farmers and the producers that I've worked with
[00:38:59.370]is when they jumped on a social media platform,
[00:39:02.950]or they started reaching out to other producers,
[00:39:05.490]they found community, and especially when they built
[00:39:08.910]community with scientists, and dieticians,
[00:39:12.560]who could help them.
[00:39:13.820]Oh, nice.
[00:39:14.653]And so, that would be my first tip is just
[00:39:18.120]don't isolate yourself, reach out, get help if you need it.
[00:39:23.160]Yeah, I love that, cause I also know,
[00:39:25.400]just from talking to you previously,
[00:39:27.610]this transdisciplinary approach you take, and I know
[00:39:30.140]that sounds like, one of those big academic words,
[00:39:32.830]but bringing all these different areas together,
[00:39:37.340]to figure this out in a little more robust
[00:39:39.570]but scientific way.
[00:39:41.260]You've talked about the importance of soil health
[00:39:43.630]in nutrition, you've talked about the importance
[00:39:45.900]of social media in nutrition, and communication,
[00:39:49.190]and understanding, and I think there's just a lot
[00:39:52.160]of lessons we can all learn from that.
[00:39:54.210]Absolutely, and I would say too, I think you should
[00:39:58.000]value your knowledge.
[00:40:00.500]Often I talk to farmers and producers who don't think
[00:40:04.970]that they have any value, or anything to add
[00:40:08.130]to the conversation, don't hold that information hostage,
[00:40:12.340]share it with others, and know that you can always
[00:40:15.670]add value to the conversation.
[00:40:18.200]And what words of wisdom would you share
[00:40:20.070]for people who are in a business, or maybe thinking
[00:40:23.230]about starting one?
[00:40:24.670]Definitely take some time to come up with a game plan,
[00:40:29.090]research a little bit, try to validate your idea,
[00:40:33.460]I think that's really important.
[00:40:35.690]So often we think, oh, I'm just going to do this
[00:40:38.900]because people have to need this.
[00:40:40.850]Of course they need this.
[00:40:42.610]Well, ask that question, go find a group of people
[00:40:45.740]that you can test that with, so if it's a product
[00:40:48.800]or service, make sure you've got a group of folks
[00:40:51.670]who are willing to pay for that product or service,
[00:40:54.310]and ask them how much would you pay
[00:40:56.690]for this product or service?
[00:40:58.600]So validate the idea and then take the leap.
[00:41:02.810]Excellent, thank you so much for being
[00:41:05.000]on the Rural Futures podcast, we enjoyed this conversation
[00:41:09.180]and take that to heart listeners,
[00:41:11.050]Amber has a lot to share.
[00:41:14.000]Thanks for listening to Rural Futures
[00:41:15.660]with Dr. Connie, find us on social media at RuralFutures,
[00:41:19.230]and share this podcast with your networks to raise bold
[00:41:21.930]voices for rural America.
[00:41:24.320]Next up we have futurist Deborah Westphal,
[00:41:26.920]CEO of Toffler Associates, a future focused
[00:41:30.130]strategic advisory firm based in Virginia.
[00:41:33.170]Toffler Associates guides private and public
[00:41:35.810]organizations through disruptions and transformations
[00:41:39.010]in preparation for future success.
[00:41:42.150]It's easy to focus on the technology, and yes,
[00:41:44.710]there's so much technology that's maturing
[00:41:48.300]and advancing, and that we lose sight
[00:41:51.730]of the implications to people, and humanity, and society,
[00:41:56.340]and this revolution that we're in is human.

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Rural Futures with Dr. Connie Episode 15 Amber Pankonin

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