The Fabulous Pharmacist ahead of her Cork visit: I'm willing to tackle difficult topics

CHILDREN are resilient enough to start learning about periods and the menopause from a very young age.

That’s according to the powerhouse that is Laura Dowling, otherwise known as the Fabulous Pharmacist, who has more than 90,000 followers on Instagram and who has developed her own range of nutritional supplements.

“We discuss things like puberty and pregnancy, so why keep these things shrouded in secrecy?” she asks with her trademark directness.

Laura has an ever-growing fan base who tune in for her trusted expertise – she worked as a pharmacist for 20 years – but also for her hilarious antics which frequently see her accosting unsuspecting members of the public and asking them if they can point out female ‘bits’ on her vulva puppet.

It’s all in a day’s work for the straight-talking, pharmacist, scientist, CEO and mum-of-three. From Dublin (her distinctive Northern lilt is courtesy of her parents), she graduated as a pharmacist from Trinity College in 2002 and worked in community pharmacy until last year. That’s where the seeds were sown for her business Fab U Wellness which she launched last year.

“I was working at a time when HRT was still seen as this terrible thing. And at the same time, women in their 30s and 40s were coming in to the chemist, who were really discontented. 

They were miserable, blue… they wanted to stab their husbands, but they didn’t know why!

It seems obvious now, she said, but she pointed out that it’s only in the last two years or so that menopause has become a national conversation.

“It took Joe Duffy to get it out there. Imagine? A middle-aged man became the face of the menopause, but we’ll take it because there was no conversation before that,” she said.

While working as a pharmacist she routinely sent women to a nearby health shop with a list as long as their arms for products she felt could help them manage perimenopausal symptoms, until she decided to do something herself.

Describing herself as ‘always being the last to leave the lab’ during her college years, she embarked on an R&D project to develop her own supplement – a mix of what is her current R&R Relax and Shrooms Meno & Peri products.

Despite epic hard work, and all her education and knowledge, it was a flop, she admits.

“It was going to cost €60 per month, which was just too much. I had the knowledge and had done the research but I didn’t have much of a business brain and I had to take a breath, and go back to the drawing board,” she said, admitting that as tough as it was, she learned a lot from that early experience.

In 2022, she was back, and launched her Fab U Wellness, and her first three nutritional supplements, followed by another three this year. All her products now cost in or around €30, or €1 a day.

Are there more on the way?

“I’m always really busy in my mind with 100 things firing at once but I feel I need to focus and educate people about what’s on the market first, to keep the business sustainable. People are intelligent and want to know what they’re taking.”

The last thing she wants to be doing is flogging unnecessary products, or advising people to take all her products at once, she insists.

I’d much rather people bought one product and took it consistently so they’d see the benefit.

She’s all about honesty and has no issue admitting that as well as taking her own Skin Glow product, she also gets regular botox.

Her product development came before her explosion on to the Insta platform, which came about organically. Her light-bulb moment is a well-told story by now, and came after a friend texted her a picture of her husband’s testicles.

“I was breastfeeding my youngest child in 2013 when this picture came through on a text from a friend wondering what was wrong. I could see straight away it was jock itch and that was my light-bulb moment. She’s a grown woman with four kids of her own and she didn’t know what to do about this common ailment, so I thought others wouldn’t either so I put something together for Facebook,” she remembers.

Her alter ego, ‘Fabulous Pharmacist’, pretty much took off from there, and she earned lots of credibility during the pandemic for disseminating official information in a really accessible way.

Her antics with her vulva puppet at the likes of Galway Races were hilarious, but where does she get the energy? She’s mum to three boys aged 14, 12 and 10, and as well as the business she has a successful podcast called ‘The Laura Dowling Experience’ and is a regular corporate speaker.

I prioritise my health. I eat healthily but I don’t deny myself either, I love a drink and dinners out. I grew up in a house where there wasn’t a weighing scales or talk about diet but we ate well.

She also prioritises exercise and has been doing yoga for years – but points out she grabs it when she can and it usually happens in the chaos of a busy household.

“I could be doing a work-out and have to stop to turn a steak for dinner or correct homework, the usual multi-tasking, but I always feel better if I exercise.”

In fact, she says exercise has a huge role to play in helping us to age well.

“If we put in the ground work now, including lifting weights, it can really change our lives. It’s not about having the body of a 20-year-old but to stop muscle wastage and things like osteoporosis.”

Her other advice to women navigating the perimenopause/menopause is to do their research and find a ‘voice’ they trust.

“There is so much information out there now that it can be confusing so find one person, or one site. Also, talk to your family and explain how you’re feeling instead of burying that rage and exploding and causing a nuclear disaster at home.

If you’re happy, the house is happy, so start to share.

Sleep is also vital, and if you can’t sleep at night, then take naps during the day.

“Don’t be afraid to drop everything and get some rest when you can. The laundry will still be there tomorrow!” she said.

Laura makes no apology – in this interview and on her Instagram – to having a messy kitchen or house. If people call over, she says she sits down to give them her full attention rather than running around tidying up.

“We have to stop trying to have this so called perfect existence!”

And she also advises people to ditch the phone if and when they can, especially before bedtime.

“I actually don’t have time to scroll, and I’m really making a conscious effort to read more. So if you can switch off from the phone, you should.”

Laura left her role as a full-time pharmacist last year to focus on Fab U. With her energy and communication skills, we suggest she’d be ideal for TV and wonder if it’s on her radar?

“I wouldn’t be PC enough for TV!” she says and points to some of the ‘outrage’ her podcast can attract.

“There’s people out there who will always be annoyed about something though, but for the most part the reaction to the podcast is very positive. 

I’m willing to tackle difficult topics and for the most part it’s well received.

Laura will be in Dunmore House, Clonakilty, on October 19 for National Women’s Enterprise Day at an event called ‘Empowering Business Together.’ See localenterprise.ie for more. If attending, just make sure you can point out the vulva on that puppet of hers!

For more on Laura see https://fabuwellness.com/or follow her on Insta @fabulouspharmacist