Having lived in Maitland for 13 years, Ms Barber has well and truly cemented herself as a local.

She moved to the area for family, and started up her own private practice 'Nicole Barber Dietitian' soon after.

Ms Barber started her business as a short term thing, to work on her own terms while her sons, Will and Madden, were young.

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Now, her boys are teenagers and she has fallen in love with private practice, interacting with the people of Maitland and beyond on a daily basis.

"I just enjoy working with clients in a really close way," Ms Barber said.

"To be that support and accountability coach in everyday live, I love that I get to work really closely with people rather than just a one-off appointment."

Pre-COVID, Ms Barber did some work around the Maitland community, public speaking to educate groups on nutrition and food.

She worked with Slow Food Hunter Valley's Amorelle Dempster to run nourish workshops, spoke at Maitland running forums, and even spoke at Melbourne fertility conferences on women's health and hormones.

Ms Barber said it's important to speak out and create a clear message about the role food can have to enable our health.

"We're getting so much more information from media sources that isn't science backed or evidence backed," she said.

"So [I'm] just creating that breath of fresh air that has science behind it, versus social media influence."

Ms Barber said she loves the unique community in Maitland and the countryside, as well as the people she's met here and especially the earth market.

She said her main 'heart' and what she loves to do is help women restore their perspective on food, and the relationship between themselves and food.

"We have a lot more influences on our food with social media and food rules," she said.

"[I like to] break them down and then restoring that relationship again, making food uncomplicated and making food something that isn't fearful but rather enabling."

As a mother of two sporty teenagers, Ms Barber said it has been cool to explore the nature of food and exercise with them, and find that balance between work and family.

Studying nutrition came about naturally, as Ms Barber is fascinated by the scientific nature of food.

"I love the way your body is a science, and food can match it together, I like understanding our body's physiology and how food, when you break it down, can enable a lot of those pathways," she said.

"Food is something we engage with every day, and therefore it's the most consistent factor to our health, and if we have a positive relationship with it, it can really affect the way we feel."

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