Clancy is a Registered Dietitian as well as a TEDx Speaker and Author. Her company, Healthy Living Lifestyle LLC, is the umbrella company for her writing and speaking endeavors, personal passions that developed into a full career. Clancy is a well-known food justice advocate and speaks on raising hunger awareness while fighting the stigma of food-assistance programs.
Transcript
My name is Clancy Harrison. I am a TEDx speaker, registered dietitian and author. I had no idea that I would be going down this avenue. I am an adjunct professor for Penn State and I spent two years as a lecturer at University of Scranton, so I was used to getting up and speaking and I do have a love for when I have "aha" moments go off and I see that and the people I'm trying to educate. So it was a natural fit for me and it's something that I love doing. My speaking started when I was recruited by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to be a leader in the Community Voice Project. The purpose of this project was to bring the real face of hunger to Congress not just statistics. So it gave me an opportunity to sit down and interview clients at the food pantry and I also consult with universities the woman with children's program in Misericordia specifically. And so I sat down and I learned their story of hunger and poverty and because I spoke at Congress then I started speaking at nutrition seminars and now I'm at nursing seminars and medical seminars. I'm doing a national key note for WIC in Chicago this spring so it really had my career take off because I was so, I'm leading with passion. And I think that's really important. I'm learning from the experts themselves which are my clients. So it's people who experience hunger and I bring those stories to WIC with me because it's great to give a statistics but if I can give a real face and a true story it helps people develop empathy for the statistics but it also makes them come alive in the presentation. So I have to say the day in and day out is working with the clients, rolling up my sleeves, and being in the trenches. It's easy to read statistics and research and be able to talk about that in front of an audience but if I don't actually go to the food pantry and set up our free bi-weekly farmer's market for our clients and talk to them and learn their why I think it's very important for me to understand why they make certain food choices because that helps me with the education piece. So the day in and day out preparation is really to continue to learn from my clients and their experiences.
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