A Nourishing Space: Growing Entrepreneurs in Nutrition and Health Sciences

A Nourishing Space was created to fill a gap at TWU by providing students in Nutrition and Health Studies experiential learning opportunities to practice their emerging nutrition education, health education, and health coaching skills while also learning key aspects of creating successful health businesses. For the 2021–2022-year, five Nutrition students and three Health Studies students were selected as Student-Coaches. Student- Coaches received training to work effectively with their TWU student peers, including training in Motivational Interviewing (MI), health coaching, and nutrition education. This allowed them to provide hands-on coaching and education for TWU students who scheduled consultations. Additionally, Student-Coaches chose mentors in entrepreneurship in their respective fields, meeting with them twice during the school year. They also attended two workshops led by entrepreneurs in their fields, learning valuable business skills, such as writing a business plan, thriving in social media, marketing their skills, leading others, and managing resources.