Shahida Choudhry is a PharmD and owner of Palmes Pharmacy in Tampa, Florida. She shares her journey as a woman owner of a Pharmacy at the 2024 McKesson ideaShare conference.
Kacey Glinka is a Vice President of the Northeast region, RxOwnership at MaKesson. Rx program is a community of women to help other women grow and increase expectations in pharmacy.
Choudhry expresses that she finds it hard to maintain a work-life balance tries to prioritize her career and is passionate about other things outside pharmacy too. She travels with her family or attends electric music dance shows.
Choudhary said, “I learned a couple of new words. One is called delegate—I’m learning that one. I have a great executive team and staff that I’ve learned to delegate to, and it’s empowered them. Another new word I learned is to say no. I spread myself thin, and I have to say no. So that’s what I’ve learned—to say no,”
While managing work-life balance she also prioritizes her physical and mental health. She also talked about the progress she can make in a year.
Throughout her career in Pharmacy, she found many mentors and had an influential impact on her. She said, “Amina Abubakar, PharmD, AAHIVP, CEO and owner of Avant Pharmacy & Wellness Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Kelley Babcock, founder and creator of the Leadership Growth Formula, have influenced the way I run my business and how I continue to live my life. Following their unexpected meeting, I was surprised that the women were familiar with me and equally as excited to greet me.”
Glinka said that as women we have this imposter syndrome where we feel like we don’t belong here and there are more things to achieve. But in reality, she thinks how far she has come and believes in herself.
At the end note Choudhry shared a word for those women who are seeking their own business to do market research and research in finance to know numbers that can be beneficial for future growth.
Choudhary said that she wished someone had given advice when she opened. Because, when she open she thought everyone was going to walk into her Pharmacy but no one did.
