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Enriching a career and a life
As a child, Toni Lojstrup often struggled with nutrition. “I didn’t grow up in a house that had money, let alone proper nutrition,” says the graduate of the Nutrition Manager Certificate at Bow Valley College. But at eight years old, she started cooking, saying she was sick of eating canned soup, Kraft Dinner, and noodles. This early interest in food preparation laid the path for Toni’s culinary ambitions.
After graduating high school at 16, Toni completed a two-year culinary program and finished at the top of her class. She landed job at the Okanagan Resort in Kelowna, BC. From there, she worked on a cooking show in Prince Rupert, BC.
However, her career was not a straight, easy path. “Being a young female in a male-dominated industry, I was already passed up quite a bit,” says Toni, who is also a mom of two.
Toni concluded she needed more education to get noticed. “I figured going back to school for nutrition management would be a better way to get my foot in the door than just having the cooking schooling.”
Through any-time online learning, Toni completed the Nutrition Manager Certificate from Courtenay on Vancouver Island and got a job right after graduating.
In addition to helping her take her career to the next level, the certificate has proved extremely beneficial to Toni’s personal life. “I have always struggled with my weight,” she says. But by applying the classroom learnings to her own life, she lost 100 pounds. She calls it the “greatest outcome” of the program.
Toni now works as a breakfast supervisor at Outland Camp in Comox, BC, and has future ambitions to provide healthy opportunities for young people.
“I’m determined to make a difference in this world, small or big. I want to help kids in bad situations, underprivileged kids. My goal is to end up in children's nutrition.”
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Posted on July 24, 2018
