Meet Katie Spada: Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katie Spada and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, what’s the most important lesson your business/career has taught you?
After being in business for almost 3 years now, the most important lesson I have learned is to embrace imperfection. I am your classic type-A perfectionist and when I first started in business, this hindered me quite a bit. It would prevent me from taking action if things weren’t “perfect”, and truthfully it held me back from advancing and growing my business in the beginning. I hired a business coach (one specifically for dietitians who knew my field intimately) and she encouraged us to take “messy action”. Anything with the word messy, I am not usually about. But I invested quite a bit into this coaching program, so I was willing to give it my all and follow her advice as best as I could. I took lots of messy action, and you know what? I saw lots of results and growth, to the point where my business is at capacity and I am starting a waitlist for my services. It is scary putting yourself out there, especially if you are the face of your brand like myself. Messy action is the game changer though. Embracing imperfection will allow you to get out of your own way. I still find myself struggling. Particularly anytime I am launching something new. I catch myself trying to wait until things are perfect. When I realize it, I remember how thankful I have been in the past for taking messy action, and that gives me the courage and motivation I need to do so again. This has helped me in my personal life as well be able to embrace the imperfections!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
My business, Spada Strong Nutrition LLC, is a nutrition coaching business focused on helping former athletes transition their nutrition in life after sport. Our goal is to help athletes retiring from elite competition, or those who have been retired from competition, find what it means to nourish their bodies without rules or restriction and find confidence in their retired athlete skin. In my practice, we use an intuitive eating approach. This eating philosophy has been gaining momentum throughout social media and is really revolutionizing the nutrition space (which is exciting)! All of my coaching is based on an intuitive eating platform. This is much different from many other nutrition coaches who focus on macros, weight loss, calorie counting, and things like that. Instead, we get to the root and the WHY behind your nutrition struggles. Otherwise, it’s just like putting on a band-aid. Additionally, my practice focuses on retired athletes and speaks to the unique struggles and challenges retired athletes face as they retire. They are different struggles and having an intimate understanding of those struggles myself, I am able to truly know where my clients are at and what they are feeling.

Getting to this place in my business was not easy. At the start, I felt like I was working so many hours and for little return. For me, business is not about the money, it’s about changing lives. But in order to stay in business, I do need to make money, and at the beginning, the money just wasn’t there. I reached a place where I felt like my business was running me instead of me running my business. I decided to invest in a business coach and it was truly a game-changer. My coach helped me streamline processes, redo pricing structures, redesign my packages, and really create a business model I would be able to grow and expand with which has always been the goal.

Even with my business coach though, it was not easy. I re-launched my brand new program end of March 2020, right when the world shut down because of COVID. This really forced me to adjust my marketing, how I spoke to my audience, and how I showed up on my social media platform. I would say it was a learn-as-you-go sort of thing since no one had even walked through something like this. I feel so grateful to have still found success during such a time. That experience taught me how to pivot, which I quickly learned is imperative in business and I’ve had to pivot several times over the last year or so.

The goals in my business are many, but the main one is to teach people how to eat without fear, guilt, frustration or stress. Because I’ve been there. Eating can be stressful with all of the nutrition noise floating around, especially in the sports/fitness space. I focus on a total person approach. We look at your stress, sleep, schedule lived experiences, and so much more to help you accomplish your goals and desires. Because eating should not be stressful. We shouldn’t be afraid to eat certain foods. And we are not destined to track our macros/calories every day for the rest of our lives. I show you have to make that change in a stress-free yet sustainable way.

I coach on nutrition. But the real goal is to help my clients find freedom. And that’s what truly lights me up, and keeps me focused on continuing to grow, so more and more people can know what it’s like to live in food freedom.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live in Las Vegas so there is endless opportunity to do amazing things while you’re here!

If my best friend were to come to visit, we would start by hiking at Red Rock Canyon! It is truly beautiful up there and nice to get away from the city for a while. Then we would grab brunch at my favorite local shop! They have the best fancy coffees and lattes. After enjoying brunch we would take a drive down Las Vegas Blvd stopping at all my favorite places: Bellagio Fountains and their atrium, Miracle Mile at Planet Hollywood, maybe grab a crepe at the Paris. There are plenty of things to do and see when you’re walking Las Vegas Blvd. To end the night we would have dinner at one of the numerous gourmet restaurants in town sampling all of the house specials before closing out with a drink at the Chandelier bar in the Cosmo or any of the other bars we have in town! Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I could not have made it this far without my support team, i.e. my family. My mom, dad, and brother have fiercely supported me throughout my entire business from the ground up. They believed in me in the moments I didn’t believe in myself. They helped me on the days I worked 14-16 hours by simply washing dishes or making me dinner. They always let me know how proud of me they are and how much they knew I was destined for success. On the rough days (because those do happen), my family was there to pick me up and help me to keep going. There is no doubt in my mind I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for their support, love, and encouragement. I am so thankful to have people around me that believe in my dreams as much as I do and support me in doing what it takes to be successful!

Website: www.spadastrongnutrition.com

Instagram: @fueling.former.athletes

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-spada-rdn-ldn-562909105/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpadaStrongNutrition

Image Credits
Maggie Boyd