Business Story: Letisha Hodges, Registered Dietitian

by Dawid Furman

What’s your business and who are your customers?

I run Edge Nutrition & Performance Inc. and I help busy women reclaim their energy, wellness & confidence by creating nourishing lifelong habits through my 1 on 1 and group nutrition coaching. I primarily work with women with PCOS and/or who are looking for balanced weight loss without restriction.

Explain your experience and how you use it to help clients.

I am so passionate about helping women now because I know what it is like to struggle with gut health issues, chronic fatigue, diets, and unsustainable weight loss attempts while battling an unhealthy relationship with food. I went through some trauma as a child and without any coping skills of my own, food & my body became a method of control during a time when I had no support or direction. For years afterward, I flirted with eating disorders, starving myself, then bingeing, and exercising & competing while undereating. My relationship with food was chaotic and I didn’t feel like I could trust myself around food. It even got to the point where I was getting sick every other week, had constant brain fog, was dizzy & feeling weak during training, and lost my cycle. It took a lot of hard work & therapy to get healthy, but by the time I started competing in boxing, I was able to fuel for the high demands of training and make weight for my fights without my performance & mental health suffering or regaining a large amount of weight after the fight or falling into old disordered eating patterns!

My superpower is to cut out all the noise, diet chatter, food rules, and body image expectations to help them sustainably reach their goals & maintain them. I believe that the best nutrition coaching helps free up brain space so you can focus on your family, career, and passions. My tailored nutrition coaching program builds lifelong skills to lose fat and recover from chronic diets, low energy, poor gut health, food rules, and an impaired relationship with food. My program and coaching are rooted in flexibility, simplicity, autonomy, and balance. This means that I adapt to YOU and you might be exposed to behavioral-based coaching, intuitive eating, or macro-based coaching to reach your goals.

Tell us about yourself. For example, what first got you started working on your business, and what motivates you each day to do what you do?

I started working on my business while working in a large outpatient clinic with over 200 clients which caused me to only follow up with them once every 2-3 months. I felt like I could do so much more to help clients than that role provided so I started a nutrition private practice that provides a high degree of support, accountability, guidance and time to provide personalized recommendations for clients. I find my work incredibly motivating because I work alongside women to create long-lasting nutrition habits that align with their goals, values, preferences, and vision of health. It is incredibly gratifying!

What’s your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Getting asked to speak at webinars for PCOS!

What’s one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Personally, it is to not work! I love my business and my clients so maintaining boundaries to allow myself downtime is an ongoing practice.

What are the top 3 tips you’d give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

1. Learn and reflect on your own vision of success so you can make decisions that are in line with your values. If you want to grow slowly and spend time with your family, you will need to make decisions that in line with those goals/values as it is pretty easy to end up in a place that isn’t in line with your vision!

2. Pick 1-2 ways of marketing to start with instead of feeling like you need to do them all (blogging, Instagram, tik tok, Facebook etc).

3. Track your leads! If you are spending a lot of time on social media and you do not even enjoy it, it isn’t the best use of your time!

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Your business is a tool for the life you want to live. Your definition of success and happiness is truly personal, so you do not need to do it all or grow the fastest or be the biggest company if it isn’t in line with your vision.