Hello! How did you find your time on the show?
It was phenomenal! I can’t really say much more than that…
What made you want to go on?
It was never about being on TV, it was always about growth and acceleration. I built a brand before any TV and I opened up my own clinic, and I’ve developed products. But to truly scale responsibly I needed that mentorship, investment and exposure to high level business strategies. Lord Sugar has an exceptional track record of scaling businesses, and he has invested in healthcare before. I felt like this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to challenge myself, refine my leadership skills, and fast track the next stage of my life journey.
What skills did you bring from pharmacy to the boardroom?
A lot of transferable skills, decision-making under pressure, managing teams, communicating clearly and thinking ethically are things that pharmacists do every day. The experience reinforced my belief that clinicians can be incredibly strong entrepreneurs and leaders given the right support and opportunities.
What is your background in pharmacy?
I’ve been a pharmacist for over 10 years, working across hospital community and managerial roles over Scotland and London, and I’m from Aberdeen in Scotland. Most recently, I’ve also begun my independent prescribing qualification in September, which I’m extremely passionate about. I’ve also qualified as an aesthetics practitioner.
I opened my own clinic called North Aesthetica in Aberdeen last year. I also own my own cosmetics beauty business called Browtasia and I’ve been doing that also for the last three years, where I’m focusing on natural hair growth solutions.
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Why did you go into a career in pharmacy?
Honestly, as simple as it sounds, I just really wanted to help people. It’s finding my why and my purpose. I feel like it’s my role in life to help people and improve people’s lives and it’s such a rewarding career. There’s never a dull moment. You can always expand and learn more and go into different avenues within pharmacy. It’s not linear. There’s always different branches and different scopes of practice that you can go into, so it’s just a really highly rewarding and purposeful job.
From your over ten years experience in the industry, how has the role of a pharmacist changed?
Patients are coming to us directly instead of going to their GP, which is great because we take the pressure off of the GPs.
We’ve also introduced Pharmacy First, which is very helpful. With the way that the NHS and the community pharmacy is going, it’s allowed us to see more patients and expand our role within prescribing. That will allow us to be able to see patients and help them more quickly.
What is the biggest challenge community pharmacists are currently facing?
Workload, demand and being able to utilise the workforce. Patient demand is increasing because of Pharmacy First. It’s really rewarding that patients can actually come to us first before going to the GP, and we can triage effectively. But that means time is quite limited within pharmacy and it’s harder for patients to be able to access us now that it’s getting busier.
Read more: GPs call for Pharmacy First funds to be ‘reallocated’ to practices
It’s challenging being able to navigate around that day to day and also prioritising the daily tasks of funding the pharmacy, as well as doing consultations, giving vaccinations, giving advice over the counter, and also looking after the team and the workforce. You are responsible for all of that. So it’s just about how to manage and delegate and run a pharmacy efficiently, but also prioritising patients and making sure patients’ concerns are being heard.
What made you start your businesses and how did your pharmaceutical experience inform that decision?
The idea for Browtasia came about from my own personal experience. When I was at uni, I developed a hair pulling disorder. It affected my eyebrows leaving them quite thin and patchy. Both being on the consumer side of things and a pharmacist, I just struggled to find anything that generally worked for my skin without irritating it or causing further damage.
I realised there was a gap in the market for people experiencing hair loss in this way, and who wanted something effective, gentle, and more science-led. So I ended up formulating my own products in a UK-based lab, combining my pharmaceutical background with natural hair nourishing ingredients.
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For North Aesthetica, I wanted to add an extension on well-being and confidence and seeing results within people, I just wanted to create something in that industry and space as well.
Are you still working as a pharmacist?
I’ve never left! I still work as a pharmacist part-time in the community, which I’m so passionate about. It’ll always be a core part of who I am. Even with my businesses that continue to grow, I do see myself remaining closely connected to clinical practice, prescribing healthcare innovation.
I love speaking to people and getting to know people, and that will always be the foundation of who I am. I’ll always have a foot in the door for pharmacy - I don’t see myself coming out anytime soon.
The Apprentice starts at 9pm on Thursday 29th January, on BBC 1.
