Serena’s career in women’s health, nutrition and burnout prevention

Her work is about more than nutrition. It’s about helping women reclaim energy, identity and sustainable health through care systems that respect both their biology and their reality. It’s a career built on purpose, curiosity and the confidence to step into opportunities that didn’t always look like the “next step.”

But Serena’s path to this role began long before her current title.

Combining structure with flexibility

When she chose Torrens University, she found a program that offered the right balance of structure and flexibility, giving her the confidence to step into clinical practice while encouraging her to assess clients holistically. That balance shaped how she now works with real people, not just textbook cases.

The final assignments, especially the complex case studies, pushed her out of her comfort zone. They demanded hours of research and reflection, and they left a lasting impact. They taught her the importance of staying curious and reminded her that keeping up with research is essential for remaining engaged as a practitioner.

For Serena, graduation wasn’t the finish line, it was the launchpad. She built her career through experience, a strong network and a willingness to say yes to opportunities that expanded her world. That same curiosity now drives her postgraduate studies: she is currently completing a Master of Science, deepening her expertise in women’s health, postnatal nutrition, and the systems that keep women well over the long term.

Building a career across clinic, industry and the corporate world

Since graduating, Serena has built a career that reaches well beyond one-to-one consultations. She works with organisations as a corporate educator and speaker, delivering sessions on capacity, resilience and stress awareness for leaders and managers. These sessions give teams practical, evidence-based ways to understand their own physiology and protect their energy, and the questions that follow are often where the real learning happens.

Alongside her clinical practice, Serena consults to the food and supplement industry in a business development role across raw materials and functional foods. This work draws on her experience in product development and sourcing, and gives her a dual perspective most practitioners don’t have. She understands both the science a product needs to deliver and the commercial decisions behind bringing it to market. That combination shapes how she assesses what she recommends to clients and how she helps brands build genuinely evidence-based offerings.

Her career advice to students and graduates is simple and powerful: don’t box yourself in. Stay curious, keep asking questions and embrace the diversity of voices you learn from. Even when you don’t agree with everything, there’s always something valuable to take away.

In practice, Serena shows strong empathy, active listening and motivational interviewing, creating a safe, client-centred environment. She applies an evidence-based nutrition care process, tailoring communication to each client’s needs through clear, accessible strategies. She maintains professionalism and critical thinking, integrating science with individual client contexts.

Serena’s story is a reminder that nutrition is not only about clinical expertise. It’s about empathy, adaptability and the courage to keep showing up.