We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gillean Barkyoumb. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gillean below.

Gillean, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My most hated question is: “What’s for Dinner?” I am a busy mom of two (almost three!), passionate business owner wanting to grow and expand, and a women who values self-care, space to relax, and boundaries for personal time. After a full day of work, the last thing I wanted to do was to stress about what to put on the dinner table. I created the What’s for Dinner Club because it is a solution to my problem–it gives me back TIME and makes planning and prepping healthy dinner for my family so easy. Meals are 20-30 minutes for prep AND cook time, ingredients overlap between meals for the week so you spend less and waste less, there are ideas on how to adjust meals for different dietary preferences, and the dinner taste delicious! My mission is to help take dinners off your to-do list so you an focus on all those other important things in your life, or just take back some time to relax!

Gillean, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

It all started when I saw the movie “Supersize Me” in eight grade–the one where the guy eats McDonalds for a week and experiences a host of health complications. I was enamored with the whole thing and started to gain an interested in nutrition.

Fast forward through college and grad school, I have now been a registered dietitian for over 10 years. My goal has always been simple, to take nutrition off your to-do list. Nutrition can seem really complicated but when you go back to basics and focus on eating whole foods that make you feel good, it can be simple.

I partner with brands like Ninja Kitchen and NOW Foods by hosting TV segments, creating social media content, and developing recipes. Being able to get creative, be on camera, and show just how simple eating healthy can be lights me up.

I also have a month membership called the What’s for Dinner Club where I send out a weekly grocery list and recipes every week through text. The ingredients between meals for the week overlap so that you waste less and spend less on groceries. Each recipes also includes options for plant-based, gluten-free, and kid-friendly tweaks. I created this membership because it was something that I needed! As a busy mom of two (soon to be three!), it was important to me to have a warm meal on the table for my family but I was stressed out about all the planning and preparation. The What’s for Dinner Club solves all those issues and it’s been so fun to share that with my community.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Relationships, relationships, relationships. Networking with the right people means everything. It’s through personal relationships that I got my first TV gig, landed a consulting job so I could leave my corporate job, and found the right people to work with for everything from website design to hiring team members.

Before you can become a well-known expert, you have to become a local expert. Be the person everyone in your town thinks of when it come to your field. This is only possible by meeting people. Attending local events, joining business mentorship groups, connecting over lunches and coffee dates all helps establish me as the dietitian in my area that works with brands and is always on TV.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I love to send my clients sweet surprises to let them know I am thinking of them. Every 3 months, I send my What’s for Dinner club customers $5 Starbucks gift cards to thank them for their support. It doesn’t have to be big–a little gesture or kindness goes a long way. That little act of generosity shows them you can about THEM and builds trust, the number on thing you need to build a community of loyal customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.whatsfordinnerclub.com / coming soon: www.itsgillean.com
• Instagram: @itsGillean / @whatsfordinnerclub.official

Image Credits
Angela Schoening of Angela Marie Photography Girl Squad Media