00:00:00 My name is Nicola Evans and I'm the senior nutritionist. I work with people in groups, I work in schools, I work in early year settings looking at healthy eating messages, at nutrition, how we can make people have more balanced diets and how we can encourage people to eat healthily. Get a passion for it, really enjoy what they're eating and enjoy cooking again.
00:00:27 I found the academic side of school quite difficult. Subjects like maths and English I always found tough and science as well so I was more for the hands on subjects. So, I really enjoyed art and I also enjoyed home economics as well with all the cooking and designing new products. So, I always that that would be the way my career would go, really. Never thought of any other subject, really, or career to go down until sort of I got to 16 or 18 years of age, really.
00:00:58 I always knew I was good at art but I did actually surprise myself and with some of the very academic subjects like maths and English and science I'd done better than I expected and that was a massive turning point for me. That I actually realised, "You're not too bad at this and you can go on and do different things." So, I challenged myself and I did art, geography and biology at A Level which is a real big challenge for me. And I did well in art and I didn't do too badly in geography and biology.
00:01:29 But I'd always considered that art was going to be where my career lay so I'd actually signed up for a degree in art and I was going down to London and about a month before I was due to start I suddenly changed my mind. A couple of people had mentioned it to me, "Are you sure this is what you really want to do for the rest of your life?" Particularly my Mum and Dad. And I sat down and thought about it and thought, "No, you want to do a career that's going to be for the rest of your life."
00:01:59 So, I decided to do what I really wanted to do and that was work with people around food and nutrition and I did my degree in nutrition and never looked back. It was the best thing that I ever did. When I finished my degree in 2001 I then started work at my local council looking at different health projects with adults and with children and it was from that, really, that I got my inspiration to specialise, particularly in nutrition and use the knowledge that I'd got from university.
00:02:29 I made the step into the NHS which I've never looked back on since. I really enjoy working for the NHS. I love seeing results. There's nothing better than you giving someone some information and they actually act on it and you see them a few weeks down the line and the changes starting to make a difference, they're feeling better, they're having a healthier diet, some of their health problems are getting much better and they're smiling with confidence and there's no better reward for your job than seeing that.
00:02:58 Growing up I was a very, very shy girl. Very inward. Kept myself to myself. Never really challenged myself. Wasn't outward, wouldn't really get involved with activities out of school. It really all started to change at A Level, really. That's where I started to find my confidence and then with getting good A Level results that really backed it up and I started to believe in myself and through my working life I've always challenged myself.
00:03:27 And now I deliver training, I deliver work with groups, I do one to one sessions with people and I'm confident in doing all of it and it makes me feel wonderful that I can turn from somebody who was really quite shy and nervous of everything to being somebody who loves my working life, loves being a nutritionist and I just love what I do.
00:03:50 ENDS
Nicola Evans
Nicola Evans - Wolverhampton PCT
My name is Nicola Evans and I'm the senior nutritionist. I work with people in groups, I work in schools, I work in early year settings looking at healthy eating messages, at nutrition, how we can make people have more balanced diets and how we can encourage people to eat healthily. Get a passion for it, really enjoy what they're eating and enjoy cooking again.
I found the academic side of school quite difficult. Subjects like maths and English I always found tough and science as well so I was more for the hands on subjects. So, I really enjoyed art and I also enjoyed home economics as well with all the cooking and designing new products. So, I always that that would be the way my career would go, really. Never thought of any other subject, really, or career to go down until sort of I got to 16 or 18 years of age, really.
I always knew I was good at art but I did actually surprise myself and with some of the very academic subjects like maths and English and science I'd done better than I expected and that was a massive turning point for me. That I actually realised, "You're not too bad at this and you can go on and do different things." So, I challenged myself and I did art, geography and biology at A Level which is a real big challenge for me. And I did well in art and I didn't do too badly in geography and biology.
But I'd always considered that art was going to be where my career lay so I'd actually signed up for a degree in art and I was going down to London and about a month before I was due to start I suddenly changed my mind. A couple of people had mentioned it to me, "Are you sure this is what you really want to do for the rest of your life?" Particularly my Mum and Dad. And I sat down and thought about it and thought, "No, you want to do a career that's going to be for the rest of your life."
So, I decided to do what I really wanted to do and that was work with people around food and nutrition and I did my degree in nutrition and never looked back. It was the best thing that I ever did. When I finished my degree in 2001 I then started work at my local council looking at different health projects with adults and with children and it was from that, really, that I got my inspiration to specialise, particularly in nutrition and use the knowledge that I'd got from university.
I made the step into the NHS which I've never looked back on since. I really enjoy working for the NHS. I love seeing results. There's nothing better than you giving someone some information and they actually act on it and you see them a few weeks down the line and the changes starting to make a difference, they're feeling better, they're having a healthier diet, some of their health problems are getting much better and they're smiling with confidence and there's no better reward for your job than seeing that.
Growing up I was a very, very shy girl. Very inward. Kept myself to myself. Never really challenged myself. Wasn't outward, wouldn't really get involved with activities out of school. It really all started to change at A Level, really. That's where I started to find my confidence and then with getting good A Level results that really backed it up and I started to believe in myself and through my working life I've always challenged myself.
And now I deliver training, I deliver work with groups, I do one to one sessions with people and I'm confident in doing all of it and it makes me feel wonderful that I can turn from somebody who was really quite shy and nervous of everything to being somebody who loves my working life, loves being a nutritionist and I just love what I do.
ENDS
Nicola Evans is a senior nutritionist, she works in the community encouraging people to eat healthily. She describes getting her GSCE results as a "massive turning point" as she did much better than expected and went on to gain 3 A Levels and then a degree in nutrition. She really enjoys seeing the results of her work in her patients, "they're feeling better, they're having a healthier diet, some of their health problems are getting much better and they're smiling with confidence".
External links
Skills for Health - Skills Council for the Health Sector.
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