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

Alright, Meg thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

This was the defining, raw, rock-bottom moment of my acne healing journey which, in turn, has shaped my career and my business. I had struggled with severe and persistent adult acne for years (I got my first pimple when I was 9 years old!) and I had tried EVERYTHING! Creams, prescriptions, several rounds of antibiotics, steroids, Spironolactone, hormonal birth control- you name it. Finally, I went to see yet another dermatologist who flat out told me Accutane was my only option. So, even though it terrified me to get my blood drawn every single month I was on this pill to make sure my liver was OK; I got a big black book with a giant red symbol on it that made me think of the “poison” symbol that really drilled into my head how important it was NOT to get pregnant while on this medication because it can cause damage to the fetus (-and made me think- will this cause damage to ME? Despite the doctor repeatedly telling me “no”, it would not); I did the monthly questionnaires assessing mental health asking me if I’d had any suicidal thoughts recently…. It was scary, and it felt like a lot, what I was putting myself through for clear skin. And, luckily, my skin did clear….For a whole 9 months or so after I did my 6 months of Accutane.

But the defining moment was when my acne came back 9 months later, and this time, it came back with a vengeance. It felt like my body was absolutely revolting against me. In the doctors’ eyes, I had run out of options. When I went back crying my eyes out that the Accutane hadn’t worked, he just simply suggested I do another round. But I wasn’t gonna do that again. This was supposed to be the “miracle drug” and it hadn’t worked for me long term. A second round just wasn’t worth it to me.

This was my rock bottom. I felt stuck, lost and completely hopeless and alone. I was so disappointed that the one thing that was supposed to help me didn’t. This also turned out to be the turning point of my journey too, though, and what started my entire business. I realized, this entire time, no doctor or esthetician had really been able to answer my question of “WHY” I was breaking out. So I set off to discover that on my own. By this time, I had become a nutritionist and I was able to order tests on myself. I did food sensitivity testing, but I didn’t actually start to see any real changes until I did gut testing and saw I needed some major gut healing. I healed my gut and started working on figuring my hormones out. My skin completely changed in 3 weeks after starting my gut healing protocol. I now realize, after practicing for so long, that this is NOT the norm for most people, but it felt almost as if my body was saying, “YES! FINALLY!”

I am genetically acne prone, so of course I still have a few breakouts here and there, but being able to leave my home bare faced whenever I want is such a reward for all my hard work that the “once in awhile” breakouts don’t even bother me. So, while it was one of the darkest times of my life, the moment I decided another round of Accutane wasn’t worth it and started pursuing an answer to the question “why?” was the defining moment not only in my journey but also of my entire career.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Meg, a Functional Registered Dietitian & Acne Nutritionist. I help women heal acne naturally through whole-body healing. My approach is body-lead but science-based where we learn to tune into signs and symptoms from your body about where your imbalances are and use science (like testing) to confirm & correct those imbalances.

I got into this work because the conventional medicine system we have now totally failed me when it came to my acne. No one even bothered to help me figure out WHY I was breaking out in the first place and as a result, I was sent through the very typical ringer of what felt like an endless trial and error of prescriptions and pills…None of which worked long term, not even the “miracle drug” for acne, Accutane.

Now I offer 1:1 services to help other women answer the question, “WHY?” and find long lasting results. I also offer courses for beginners or for those who aren’t quite ready yet for a full body healing journey.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn is that our bodies hold no wisdom. Being clinically trained as a Registered Dietitian, we are heavily inundated with the idea that “if there’s no research, it doesn’t exist or we don’t recommend it”. This leaves so many people who need our help floating helplessly out there in the waters of misunderstood conditions like PCOS, IBS and Acne.

But what seemed totally crazy to me is that the way we are taught to evaluate a patient seems to start with the physical symptoms- what the BODY is saying. Yet, after that step, we seem to totally disregard any of the patients feelings or symptoms that don’t “fit into our box” of a diagnosis.

When I, as a Clinical Dietitian, started using a technique called the Physical Nutrition Assessment (PNA) in the hospital setting- it was really a light bulb moment. OF COURSE our bodies hold wisdom! Why are we taught to disregard so much information from the body? So many practices like Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine rely heavily on the wisdom of the body and it seemed like such a disconnect for me to be in this weird place of “sortof using it” but “sortof not”.

Now, in my work as an Acne Nutritionist, I practice a method that I think of as 50% body widsom and 50% science. Acne is so different for everyone, and I have learned through my practice that where we break out and what it looks like can help us uncover a LOT about the potential root causes. The body holds so much wisdom and we shouldn’t ever ignore it!

Can you open up about how you managed the initial funding?

I really feel like the universe was looking out for me when I was trying to figure out how to go from working my clinical job full time to building my own business. I quickly realized the connections I’d made and the path I took turned out to be exactly what I ended up needing. Here’s how it went:

I started seeing clients in the evenings after I ended my shift at the hospital. Eventually, I found I loved helping my clients the way I wanted to so much that I started trying to devise a plan on how I could do that full time. But the jump from working full time at a hospital to working for myself full time was quite a big one and at first seemed really daunting.

Until I came across a part time job posting for another Dietitian in my area who was looking to hire someone for her team practice. I jumped at the opportunity and was thrilled when she offered me the position. Due to the nature and higher pay of private practice consulting in my field, I was able to work part time at her practice and almost entirely replace my income at the hospital. Along the way I started picking up contract jobs I could do virtually. I started doing a monthly pie chart to determine where the major % of my income was coming from and eventually I decided it was the right time to move on from her practice and continue on my own. It was such an amazing and supportive opportunity, and I learned so much. I am so grateful. So not your typical “funding” story but I think this is a common pathway many are interested in.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.acnenutritionist.com
• Instagram: @acne.nutritionist
• Other: Tiktok: @acne.nutritionist