Meet Federica Fogli | Doctor of Veterinary Medicine

We had the good fortune of connecting with Federica Fogli and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Federica, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
As a veterinarian, every day we try to make an impact on people and their pets. Ranging from wildlife and benefitting the ecosystem to domesticated pets, most of our day is lived in the constant attempt to save lives and improve their wellbeing. Veterinary medicine, however, is not care of the animal alone but care of their owners too.
As vets we are doctors, scientists, educators and occasionally therapists too.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I believe there is not enough conversation about the life of veterinarians. As a veterinarian hurdles begin at university. It is a demanding course, made of long hours, many sleepless nights, money spent, sacrifices made and lots of information to register in order to one day become a doctor.
Following graduation, the transition to work in private practice is equally difficult. We need to learn how to communicate with clients efficiently, as well as working daily onto widening our knowledge in order to become best clinicians and always provide the best quality of care. This can sometimes be challenging when outraging working hours, often underpaid, come into the picture as well as verbal and occasional abuse from clients and sometimes other members of staff.
It is important to highlight that for many of us, the passion and love for our profession and care of the animals is so strong that it is able to overcome the stress, burnout and emotional abuse that sadly all of us undergo to various degree at different stages of out career.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Living in the south west of Great Britain there are quite a few quaint places I would love my friend to visit. To begin with Bath would be a lovely village, very typical in architecture and full of traditional cobblestone houses. A traditional English afternoon tea in the Jane Austen teahouse would be followed by a trip to the local thrift stores and vintage markets. Bath is also very famous for the roman thermal baths, which we would definitely visit as we indulge in an evening spa experience on their rooftop pool. As I really love a waffle, the Courtyard cafe would probably be my next stop of the day, followed by drinks at one of the local pubs.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Plenty of people have helped me to get as far as I have. However, one in particular has pushed to get to where I am now. Dr. Harris is a wonderful soul from Tasmania, a very experienced exotic animal vet with a young soul and a big heart. In 2017, when I was still a student, I volunteered during an international conference. We became acquainted, and in this occasion he asked what I would have liked to do with my career and I told him then I would have loved to become an exotic vet. That day he wished for me to one day present at one of these conferences. Funnily enough, I got to do so in 2019 as a speaker, and his words of encouragement echoed in my head every day, and still do reminding me great things can be achieved with passion and hard work.

Instagram: @fedetdlemon

Image Credits
personal portrait photograph by www.alinaindiphoto.com