I graduated in 1987, starting my adventure as a food production animal intern at Iowa State University, USA. I only applied for the experience of putting together a job application, never dreaming I’d get it! But I did.
Then, in 1988, I had my first child. I lived in an area of Scotland with no jobs, and I started out as a tenant farmer with my husband, hill-farming sheep. I knocked on the doors of local practices with my daughter in a buggy and asked for work to help pay the bills!
Having been taught that a tight calving index was important, our son was born just 16 months after our daughter. We were really broke with multiple loans and interest rates at 18 percent! A full-time position in our local community came up, and in 1990, three years post-graduation, my veterinary career started in earnest.
It was a traditional two-vet mixed practice on the Ayrshire coast, covering the Isle of Cumbrae. I stayed there for 25 years, developing it into a 100 percent companion animal, multi-site, multi-vet, Practice Standards Scheme-accredited and registered veterinary nurse training practice before burning out and selling up in 2014 on my 50th birthday.
Since 2016, I have had a portfolio career: I became an independent, non-executive director on the Red Tractor food assurance board, was the Scottish Branch president of the BVA and was elected to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Council from 2016 to 2024, which included chairing the RCVS Standards Committee and being RCVS president in 2022/23. Finally, I am now a trustee on the Scottish SPCA board.
What challenges, setbacks and failures did you experience? How did you overcome obstacles, and how did you grow as a result?
I am a “B-grade person” – a bit better than average at a broad range of things, but not amazing at anything! I learned at a young age that if I really wanted something, I had to work hard and make my own opportunities, and that you have to keep trying in order to move forward. Once I got older, I realised that many people had enabled this, teaching me valuable life skills. Ultimately, I think being a “B-grade person” has been an asset in my career as a general practitioner in primary care.
An early setback was realising that leading by example wasn’t always the best. After giving my two assistant vets what I thought was a pep talk, they both handed in their notice within days of each other. This was when it became apparent that the skills required as a leader were very different than I had imagined, and it knocked me back.
I learned at a young age that if I really wanted something, I had to work hard and make my own opportunities, and that you have to keep trying in order to move forward
I also had to learn to delegate and reduce the pressure I put on myself by expecting myself to be able to do everything. But letting go of certain tasks and allowing others to do the job in their own way and in their own time has been very hard, and I still find this difficult.
How do you look after your well-being?
Until my mid-40s, personal well-being wasn’t a “thing”. However, I hit a dark place in the mid-1990s, and my doctor told me about the importance of having “me time” each week. Although this was never guaranteed over the years, it was my first insight into well-being.
Now I use exercise: in particular running about 10 miles a week, plus other exercise whenever possible. It takes my mind off everything else because I have to concentrate. I have also learned to accept it if I don’t do a certain workout, otherwise the stress would be worse.
Making time that is your own, even just 10 to 15 minutes each day, is empowering and crucial.
What is your top professional/career wish for the future?
Our profession is small and mighty; we fight well above our weight in impact on society. There are 30,000 vets on the UK practising register compared to over 300,000 doctors registered with the General Medical Council. However, we are not special; we should remain humble and grateful that we get to work somewhere where there is a niche place for everyone in so many different areas of life. And in exchange for that, we should have good working conditions and a decent rate of remuneration.
I have viewed my eight years on the RCVS Council as my responsibility to leave the profession fit for the future and for how today’s new graduates will need it to be to have a fulfilling career, not for how I wish it had been during mine.
Everyone has a different dream, but it should be possible for everyone to achieve theirs, even if it means leaving the profession
I have been so fortunate to live my dream career. Everyone has a different dream, but it should be possible for everyone to achieve theirs, even if it means leaving the profession. But the veterinary world should be flexible enough for someone to be able to come back easily if they want to.
What advice would you give others considering a similar career path?
Over the last few years, I have had a different career away from clinical work, but the principal skills are still the same. Communication, as I have said so often, is key. I am also still trying to problem solve and risk assess though my “patients” are no longer animals but stakeholders; they are no longer medical or surgical cases but policies. It still takes time to grow the relationship between stakeholders, just like it did with clients!
So, my advice would be to realise we have a broad skill set that is very transferable. In my speech to new vets at their graduations, I tell them to be brave – not reckless, but brave – to say yes to opportunities and give things a go. They won’t all work, but your life and career will take you to places you never dreamed of!
We all have leadership within us. We just need the confidence and self-belief to try different roles
We all have leadership within us. We just need the confidence and self-belief to try different roles while keeping our feet firmly grounded and treating others with respect.
