From Naturopathic Doctor to Marketing Strategist: Why This Isn't Actually a Career Change

I'm officially on sabbatical as of today.

Two years inactive from naturopathic practice. Which feels equal parts terrifying and exhilarating in a way I wasn't expecting.

The existential crisis hit me in the dentist office when the hygienist (mid-cleaning on my son's teeth ) casually asked: "So, what do you do for a living?"

And I froze.

The phrase I'd used my entire working life "I'm a naturopathic doctor focusing on women's health"doesn't exist for me anymore. At least not in the way it used to.

I've decided to put my energy into my boutique marketing agency, Healthy AF* Co., and really feel what impact can look like when you're not limited to one patient at a time.

"That Seems Like Such a Divergence"

That's what someone said to me when I told them about the sabbatical.

Except... it doesn't feel like a divergence at all.

I've always loved being creative. I've always enjoyed putting all the pieces together and assessing the whole picture, not just isolated symptoms. And that's what content and strategy really is. It's not just posting on Instagram or writing a blog. It's looking at the constellation of your marketing ecosystem and figuring out how to make it functional, cohesive, and yes...beautiful.

That's how I approached patient care too.

As NDs, we're trained to assess root cause. To ask: What's really going on here? To connect the dots between gut health and anxiety, between sleep patterns and hormone fluctuations, between how someone in perimenopause feels at 3 PM and whether they have the capacity to show up for their family that evening.

Marketing for health professionals requires the exact same skill set.

The Problem I Keep Seeing

Here's the thing: marketing has never been done well in our space.

There's a massive learning curve when it comes to explaining what a naturopathic doctor is to a traditional marketing team or social media manager. The nuance gets lost. The compliance concerns get ignored. The depth of what we do gets flattened into generic wellness platitudes.

It feels like too much effort to even start the process, so most practitioners just... don't.

They show up inconsistently. They post when they remember. They hire someone who doesn't understand the difference between functional medicine and a juice cleanse. And then they wonder why their content isn't connecting.

I kept thinking: Someone who actually understands this world needs to be doing this work.

So I decided that someone should be me.

What I'm Not Giving Up

The best part? I still get to use my 14 years of clinical experience.

I still get to use my love of physiology and biochemistry. I still get to nerd out over hormone cascades and methylation pathways and how chronic stress reshapes how someone shows up in the world, whether that's snapping at their partner, saying yes when they mean no, or white-knuckling through another day because they don't have the energy reserves to do anything else.

I just get to figure out how to bring that knowledge to more people.

Because here's what I realized: when people talk about impact, we usually think about it in terms of one-on-one patient care. And that's valuable. That's essential.

But last month alone, the clinician accounts we manage saw 572,962 views.

That's over half a million people getting health information in their hands.

Information that could change how they think about their symptoms. Information that could lead them to seek care they didn't know existed. Information that could help them advocate for themselves when conventional medicine dismisses their concerns.

Why This Actually Matters

When people are well...when they have energy, clarity, regulated nervous systems, and access to real care, that's what helps hold the world together.

It's not just marketing a practice.

You're helping people become a version of themselves that can raise kids with patience. Set boundaries without guilt. Keep showing up for each other even when life gets hard.

That's the work.

And I get to do it at scale now.

What Comes Next

I don't know exactly what this sabbatical will look like two years from now.

Maybe I'll go back to clinical practice. Maybe I won't.

What I do know is this: I'm no longer defined by the phrase "I'm a naturopathic doctor." I'm defined by the work I do to make naturopathic medicine (and the practitioners who practice it) more visible, more credible, and more accessible.

I'm still in service to the same mission.

I just found a different way to live it.

GETTING STARTED

If you're a health professional struggling to show up online in a way that feels authentic and sustainable, that's exactly what we do at Healthy AF Co.

Let's talk about how strategic marketing can amplify the work you're already doing, without burning you out in the process.

Get Started