Becoming a functional nutritionist is an exciting and rewarding career. Many people look into nutrition as a career path after a passion for health, wellness, and intentional diet choices, but there is so much to learn about how food, exercise, and other elements of our lives impact the health of our bodies. At Portland Community College, you can pursue a year-long preparation program in Functional Nutrition with a cohort of like-minded students who are also studying through live, online classes. This course is approved by the National Association of Nutrition Professionals as preparation for the Holistic Nutrition Credentialing Board certification exam. 

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic Portland's Bricks and Minifigs store focused primarily on walk in sales. When the State of Oregon required people to stay home the store's owner, Spencer Crandall, had to make some adjustments in order to survive. Working with the PCC Small Business Development Center's Advisers, Spencer was able to gain important information about what he would need to do to take a portion of his business online. This is his story. 

This year has made the world of real estate feel like it is on shifting sand, like so many other industries. As a real estate agent or real-estate-agent-in-training, you may feel that this is a particularly difficult year for you and worry about what the next few months may hold in the wake of COVID-19. The news is that people still need your services, but you may need to take special considerations and make preparations to create a successful real estate career in 2020 and beyond.

Despite the troubling economy, the real estate market in Portland remains strong due to a shortage of supply, recent transplants, and newly minted remote workers seeking to upgrade to a home with more room to spread out. Portland continues to experience a low vacancy rate around 2.3%, as well as the low interest rates that prompt investors to buy properties, which bodes well for the prosperity of the home rental sector. 

Updated April 12, 2023

Some well-paying, career-worthy jobs require a lot of schooling, which can be daunting upfront. Paying for multiple years of school before you can begin earning money can feel like too high a cost and too big a risk. The good news is that many careers exist like a ladder, where you can begin work after conducting initial training in a few months. Then you slowly "skill up" by taking coursework and passing certification examinations to grow into roles with more responsibility and pay. 

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic nearly 100% of Mimi Martin's Wine & Spirit Archive's revenue came from in-person classes. The restrictions on gatherings in Oregon forced her to redesign existing courses to offer online training. Mimi was able to develop new classes suited to the stay at home orders. Her “Wine Class in a Box” provides a unique antidote to the isolation many people are experiencing. This is her story of resilience and adaptation.

Making the leap towards pursuing your dream of running a restaurant, or food cart, or breaking into the food service industry takes a lot of hard work, patience, preparation and planning before you even hit the "start" button. The competitive industry requires a steadfast focus for all of the aspects that come with running your own business. You must prepare to face unexpected challenges, and learn how to become a master marketer.

From first-time management roles up to C-suite executives, one of the challenges of leadership is experiencing more responsibility and as a result, more pressure. While your direct reports feel pressure from you to complete their work objectives, management up through the ranks have bigger goals to meet and less direct control over the outcome. It's important when implementing your leadership style to make sure you're maintaining balance even as things get stressful. These maintenance choices are part of what helps you ride the waves of pressure and come through stronger and more capable than before.

In your professional life, you've probably seen many people handling conflict poorly. There are so many ways to minimize or maximize conflict: escalating a situation with angry words, ignoring injustice and sweeping it under the rug, or even letting a situation unravel to the point where work cannot get done.