Secret Lives: Columbus girl turned world traveler

Secret Lives is an ongoing series that shares the unusual past careers and unique hobbies of OhioHealth associates, physicians, and volunteers. 

Long before she became an OhioHealth associate, Miranda Stone, a registered dietitian at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, lived formative experiences in far-flung corners of the world.

Those experiences continue to influence her life.

Miranda had never even been on an airplane when she took her first trip abroad in her mid-twenties. Raised in an impoverished family in Columbus, she’d always dreamed of seeing the world but never had the opportunity. So when she heard about an international work exchange program for university graduates, she rushed to apply.

The program allowed Miranda to travel throughout Europe, work inside a Scottish civil court for six months and meet people from around the world.

“It was overwhelming and a little scary,” Miranda recalls. “Being outside of your comfort zone and learning a whole new way of doing things and a new culture — it definitely takes some time to adapt.”

By the time she left Europe, Miranda was ready for her next adventure. Within a week of returning home, she applied for a job at a hospital on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Miranda’s vision of living in a beach resort close to a well-run hospital was quickly shattered. She arrived to a dilapidated apartment in a undesirable part of town, several miles from a chaotic workplace. On her first day at the hospital, the Crucian kitchen staff asked if she was going to cry “like the last girl.”

“I remember calling my mom and saying, ‘I can’t do this,’ ” Miranda says. “She told me, ‘just give it some time, finish out your contract,’ and I eventually settled in and made a lot of friends and had a lot of fun.”

Miranda later moved back to Columbus where she met her husband and started a family. She started working at OhioHealth in May 2015. She doesn’t travel internationally these days, but she and her husband have embarked on a new adventure — uplifting a community by starting a farmers market, renovating a building in Merion Village and starting an all-organic bedding and furniture store. Miranda says her overseas experiences gave her the courage to take risks.

“It made me realize how short and precious life is, and how exciting life can be,” she says.