International Womens Day celebrates the social, economic and cultural achievements of women all around the world.
This year’s theme is #EmbraceEquity and Blooms The Chemist has highlighted the hard-working Pharmacist behind the scenes of our E-Commerce team, Kylie Bond.
Kylie has been a registered Pharmacist for 21 years, and has a range of experience and knowledge that she brings to her role as an E-Commerce Pharmacist.
She’s responsible for making sure that every single online order made through the Blooms The Chemist website gets reviewed by a Pharmacist (which is Kylie) and packs the orders that get delivered to your door.
Read on to learn more about Kylie in our interview below.
Q: How long have you been a Pharmacist?
A: I’ve been a Pharmacist now for around 21 years, but it wasn’t easy getting started. I was very determined to be a Pharmacist, but there wasn’t a Masters Degree of Pharmacy being offered when I was looking for university courses.
I wasn’t going to let that stop me though, I went back to the undergraduate degree and applied to every single course in the country. I ended up getting accepted in Western Australia, and off I went! It was really all I wanted to do, and I was very determined that it was the right thing for me in my career to become one.
I ended up transferring to Sydney in my second year and have stayed put ever since, but I finished my degree with First Class Honours, so I got the hang of it eventually!
Q: What’s the best part about your role at Blooms The Chemist?
A: As I’m a part of the E-Commerce team, my role is to make sure that everyone who orders through the Blooms The Chemist website has their orders looked over by myself, as I am a trained Pharmacist, before they get shipped off.
Through every order we get through our website, there’s a person on the end with individual health concerns and health beliefs, so we’ve always got to be conscious that the person receiving the order gets the healthcare they need.
It’s very important to me that I have my regulars and the people that trust me for health advice, and I really like helping people. It sounds corny, but it’s true!
The best part of my role is giving people access to the healthcare they need, as we can help people who are remote or people who are unable to visit a pharmacy physically.
It’s important as well to be open and sensitive as people tell you confidential things about their lives, their health concerns and their bodies. People really trust you, and that’s a big thing for me. It’s sacred and you have to handle it with care.
Q: What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
A: International Women’s Day means two things to me. Thing number one is that it puts a focus on the celebration of women.
There’s a lot of women in the world that have done amazing things in all sorts of facets, whether it’s social, political or economical, and their hard work needs to be recognised and celebrated.
Thing number two is about calling out the discrimination between men and women working in the same industry. Sometimes women are underrepresented in ownership roles, and gender pay gaps still exist throughout a range of industries.
An Australian study titled Gender balance in pharmacy leadership: Are we making progress? states: “Overall, gender balance in pharmacy organisations has increased over the 21-year period (1998-20180 however, there remains a lack of women in leadership positions, particularly in the most senior positions where women held only 24 per cent of president/chair positions over the time period. In 2018 women held 34 per cent of these positions, despite representing 62 per cent of pharmacists in Australia.”
However, as a Pharmacist, it really hurts me that other countries restrict women’s access to healthcare, education and the opportunities that allow them to develop and thrive in their local communities.
It’s always important to remember that while we’re incredibly fortunate here in Australia, there's a lot of places that don't have the same access to opportunities like we do here.
Next time you place an order through the Blooms The Chemist website, you’ll know your order is being processed with care from our E-Commerce Pharmacist Kylie.