in conversation with Royal encounters
Donna Freeman, Director of Clinical Research and Education at Chromogenex, tells us more about her early career beginnings and beauty passions…
I ended up in the beauty industry… Quite by accident actually! I was all set for a career in Chemistry after finishing my university studies but then started a temporary job with a Laser distribution company in London. After a week supporting the sales team, the Sales Director arrived in the office and decided to educate me in how their IPL worked. After he had finished ‘telling me the salesman’s spiel’ on how it worked, I offered to tell him how it really worked as my background was in the type of chemistry they used. After my explanation, he offered me a full time job!
The best thing about my job… Has to be the global travelling that I have done. It’s not a bad job when you get to climb Sydney Harbour Bridge, sit inside a space shuttle and ski in Lapland whilst working!
An average day for me is… I never have an average day. I can be travelling overseas meeting with a study site, delivering a lecture at a conference or manning the Chromogenex stand at an exhibition. On days when I am in the country, I most often work from home, dealing with clinical queries, writing papers and managing our clinical studies.
If I wasn’t in the beauty industry I would… Probably be hidden away in some research laboratory somewhere. As a teenager and into my early 20’s, I was incredibly shy and if you had told me then that I would be travelling the world delivering lectures to a couple of hundred people at a time, I think I probably would have laughed…then cried…then probably passed out in terror! Thankfully, I have got used to it after 15 years.
My ideal weekend would be… Being able to stay in my onesie from Friday night til Monday morning and switch off the phone. It doesn’t get to happen very often.
My favourite view in the world is… It would have to be of the Rockies from Denver. I was lucky enough to be based in Denver for five months in 2010 with my job when Chromogenex were first expanding into the US market and I enjoyed this view from my apartment from the end of the Summer up until the first snows before Christmas.
The most famous person I have met is… The Queen. While I lived in London many years ago and volunteered with the British Red Cross, I was part of the medical cover at the Buckingham Palace garden parties and had the dubious honour of being there on the day we got told off by the Queen for waking her up from her afternoon nap by reversing the ambulance with the reversing alarm still on. Oops!
My beauty icon is… Sandra Bullock. She has an understated beauty that looks effortless and not contrived.
My favourite beauty treatment is… A hot stone massage, especially after a long haul flight back into the UK.
My top beauty tip is… Sun protection – from as early as possible. I was always slathered in the stuff from a very early age and am sure that I am now lucky in later life because of this.
My guilty pleasure is… The Mulberry store in Terminal 5 at Heathrow. I am in there so much fairly dribbling over any new bags that I am surprised I haven’t been barred!
I’m at my happiest when… I have champagne in my hand!
When growing up my role model was… My Mum. We took on the world together and she is pivotal to where I am today.
I would like to be remembered as… As close as family to everyone I know.
162 GUILD NEWS
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