“I kind of became obsessed with seeing what the other top athletes were eating and reading Runners World magazine and [seeing] what the elite runners were taking as dietary supplements,” said Park, who serves as ingredient science specialist at Stratum Nutrition.
“At that time, there wasn’t a lot of knowledge about all these different supplements. I remember seeing CoQ10 and fish oil and just going to Wegmans and getting I don’t even know what brand it was, nor did I really know what it was doing for the body. But I was like, if these athletes are this good and they’re taking it, I should probably be taking it, too, in addition to my Flintstones Vitamins.”
Parks discussed how living with other runners, alongside her studies in nutrition, shaped her understanding of eating healthy amid a busy athletic lifestyle. She went on to work at Life Extension, GNC and Healthy Directions. With extensive experience in ingredient research and product development, Parks now uses that background to translate complex scientific data into compelling messaging at Stratum Nutrition.
“[It’s] exciting for me because I get to hone in on our ingredients and our research,” she said. “I don’t have to keep track of all of the distributor’s ingredients in the industry and why one might be better than the another. I can really just focus my efforts on Stratum’s portfolio and apply it to a target audience.”
Outside of work, Parks is a high school track and cross country coach and is completing her PhD in health and human performance with a dissertation on disordered eating beliefs and behaviors among female collegiate long-distance runners.
“I’m honing in on this population, and I’m just excited to be able to contribute more to this topic and hopefully be a part of making a more positive change in this area of health,” she said.
