If there is one word that does not fit in Julia Barbosa's vocabulary, it is “limit.” The young aesthetic pharmacist gives 100% of herself in everything she sets out to do. It was no different in the postgraduate program in Aesthetic Pharmacy, and it remains so to this day. Now graduated, Julia wants to hire and manage in aesthetics, creating paths and contributing to new stories of professionals who are about to start their careers.
It is no coincidence that Julia was honored at the 2023 Academic Excellence Award. Her dedication and commitment to the specialization were visible from the start of the clinical immersions, when, still in training, the aesthetic pharmacist was interviewed by our team. Let's now look at how her path through the postgraduate program went and at Júlia's achievements.
It started as a dream – From student to successful professional
If we take a quick look back at Júlia Barbosa's story, still at the beginning of the specialization, we will see a cheerful young woman, determined and committed to her training. Very attentive and perceptive, Júlia was one of the most focused in the clinical immersions. Nothing less was to be expected.
Even during her undergraduate studies, her wish was to move into aesthetics, but reaching her goal required walking a path with many obstacles; yet anyone who knows her knows that none of them would be enough to stop her.
In aesthetics, Julia saw the real possibility of making a difference in people's lives by being the agent of that transformation. In one of her accounts she said that behind the pharmacy counter “it was hard to be able to contribute with some help.”
With that thought, she specialized in Aesthetic Pharmacy and, with distinction, received the 2023 Academic Excellence award.
Dedicated to learning and refining her skills, she never stops evolving and now has even bigger dreams: contributing to her patients' improvement and creating opportunities for new professionals who share the same dream in aesthetics.
“Complete content and life skills”
Júlia got the most out of what she experienced in the clinical immersions. Living a dream, she says she was the first person to arrive and the last to leave, just to have the chance to absorb all the details needed for life after the specialization.
“In that (in the clinical immersions) Nepuga does not disappoint, I practiced a lot. Before, I had no contact with aesthetics, but after the postgraduate program, my life has taken big leaps toward professional success. I can only be grateful.”
During the interview she reaffirmed the quality of the specialization, highlighting some points she considered fundamental for the growth she had envisioned. With so much instruction and contact with top-of-the-line products, she did not find the transition difficult when she began her private appointments.
“The postgraduate program gave me one of the best experiences I could have had with aesthetics: the materials provided, devices, products, the model patients, everything to make our experience as close as possible to the office, all to make us more familiar with that reality…”
“…I remember when I saw a patient for the first time outside the program, it was something so normal to me that I didn't feel insecure at any moment; on the contrary, it was very pleasant and exciting.”
Working as an aesthetic pharmacist, she reveals that her view of what aesthetics was has broadened. The techniques and methods learned in the specialization aligned with her needs and turned her into a confident and competent professional in performing procedures, and today she is able to deliver exactly what she intended when she started the program.
“My view has changed a lot! New horizons have opened, responsibilities, positive expectations, and love for everything I learned. Now with a broad change in my knowledge, with incredible techniques as allies, my challenge is to keep learning more and more, gaining credibility to reach more opportunities. Much gratitude for the lives I can transform.”
Hiring and managing in aesthetics – the desire to be an entrepreneur
When she finished the specialization, Júlia says she had no difficulty finding job opportunities; after all, she was very well prepared and qualified to work in aesthetic pharmacy. Her biggest difficulty was within herself. What she cites as hard was overcoming her limitations. When she realized she was capable, everything changed. Doors started opening and she was able to put all her knowledge and skill into practice.
“Finding those opportunities wasn't hard; what was hard was dealing with our own limitations. When I set fear and insecurity aside, opportunities started to appear. Today, with a different outlook, I have mastery and total confidence in what I do, and I'm always improving. I had everything I needed in the program to start in a new area of the pharmaceutical field, new patients seek me out for the results I offer, there is competition, but when you do what you love with excellence, success is a consequence.”
Júlia's new dream is to become a 100% independent professional (Júlia splits her time between clinics and her own office) able to manage her own business. The desire to be an entrepreneur is an old one: in her childhood she sold various items in search of income. Today she wants to create jobs and opportunities for people like her, so they too have the chance to get ahead in life.
“I've always had an entrepreneurial mind; I lived in the countryside and since I was little I sold cheese, small handicrafts, and the like; in everything I do I strive to be the best, I've planted and reaped good fruits from aesthetics, and I feel completely happy and fulfilled with this profession. People seek me out to be treated exclusively by me in my office and in the clinics where I provide services, and that has filled my heart with joy and gratitude.”
“My biggest dream and goal for the future is to hire and be the manager I didn't have during my journey, to train specialists, to develop professionals as good as I can be. I want to guide people to reach their goals in aesthetics too, I want to take each one by the hand and teach them as if I were doing the procedures myself, that way I'll grow without losing the quality of my work, transforming lives and stories, prioritizing the human and empathetic side, caring for patients as a whole, using all the love and care each one deserves.”
Rafael Alves
NEPUGA content team — Núcleo de Especializações Ana Carolina Puga.
