Question Everything: Why the Future of Independent Community Pharmacy Depends on Students Who Push Boundaries

Introduction

Welcome to another episode of Script Your Future, the podcast dedicated to celebrating the next generation of pharmacy leaders and showcasing the incredible work happening in independent pharmacy across the nation. I’m your host, Sonja Pagniano, Executive Director of the NCPA Foundation, and I’m thrilled to bring you inspiring conversations with pharmacy students and professionals who are shaping the future of our profession.

In this episode, we sit down with Emily Fisher, a PharmD candidate at the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy and a recipient of the prestigious NCPA Foundation Presidential Scholarship made possible through the generosity of McKesson’s annual sponsorship. Emily’s journey into pharmacy is anything but ordinary—from initially swearing off the profession despite her family’s pharmacy legacy, to discovering her passion for independent community pharmacy through hands-on experience. Her story is a testament to the power of keeping an open mind and following unexpected paths.

Emily has made significant contributions to both NCPA and her local pharmacy community. As a summer intern at NCPA headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, she worked on critical projects including revamping the NCPA Student Business Plan Competition and creating systems for board member visits to pharmacy schools nationwide. Her dedication to innovation, advocacy, and student empowerment shines through as she shares insights on everything from applying for scholarships to developing an innovative mindset in pharmacy school. Whether you’re a pharmacy student considering your career path, a practitioner looking to mentor the next generation, or simply someone passionate about the future of independent pharmacy, Emily’s wisdom and enthusiasm will inspire you to think bigger and push boundaries.

Interview

Sonja: Welcome to the Script Your Future Podcast. I’m Sonja Pagniano, Executive Director of the NCPA Foundation, and I’m thrilled to be here with Emily Fisher. Emily is a student at the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy, a PharmD candidate who is also a scholarship recipient of the NCPA Foundation. And she also completed an internship with NCPA that the foundation helps fund and has made significant contributions, not just at NCPA, but also within the student chapter work. So, we are very excited to have you on today, Emily, thanks so much for joining us!

Emily: Thanks for having me, Sonja. I’m really excited to talk with you today.

Sonja: Let’s start with your background. Do you currently work at an independent pharmacy and what drew you to the profession?

Emily: So, I currently work for Prosperity Drug Company. It’s a local independent in rural South Carolina. We do traditional dispensing, long-term care, vaccines, and a few other services that really serve the community well. But it was my rotation, at the end of my P1 year, my community IPPE (Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience) at Iva Drug that really made me fall in love with independent pharmacy.

1:29: Getting to know those patients on a personal level and learning how to anticipate their needs was something that I just knew I wanted to be part of. So, here we are.

Sonja: That’s terrific. So, you’re set to graduate in May of 2027, and you’re still relatively early in your pharmacy school journey, so to speak. When you decided to pursue pharmacy as a career, was that like a decision you made back in high school? Was that something you’ve known like your whole life? Where did that come from?

Emily: I actually swore pharmacy off my entire childhood. I did not want to be a pharmacist. I thought it was boring. I thought you’d count by fives. My granddad, he was a pharmacist and owned a pharmacy in rural Wisconsin. And then my uncle was a pharmacist down in Alabama. But I just, I just, they always wanted me to do it and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. So, I ended up going to school for chemical engineering and working in the pharmaceutical industry on quality, safety and assurance. So, also just so exciting work to do there, but I didn’t really enjoy my job, wasn’t very fulfilled. So, I left chemical engineering after my sister recommended I give pharmacy a chance. I started working at like a local chain and warmed up to the idea of pharmacy school. So…

Sonja: Very cool. Yeah, so pharmacy like runs in your blood then!

Emily: Yeah, even though I didn’t want it to.

Sonja: Sometimes you can’t escape, but your journey is meant for you, you know? So you received a scholarship from the NCPA Foundation. Can you tell us what that scholarship has meant for you and how it’s helped?

Emily: Yeah, the presidential scholarship from the foundation, it has been fantastic receiving that. It’s allowed me to continue pursuing my education, obviously.

3:30: But I think what really matters most to me about that scholarship is the vote of confidence that it gave me because I was awarded a scholarship from the foundation that a group of independent pharmacists really saw what I wrote, saw my submission, and said, wow, we recognize you as a future leader in this profession, and we want to see you succeed.

So without this scholarship, school would definitely be a little bit more difficult to get through, but it’s really just the confidence that it gives you to keep on going, knowing there’s people in your corner. And the NCPA Foundation also has plenty of other programs that I have been able to be part of that have also really benefited myself through pharmacy school. I think the first program I did was the Pharmacy Ownership and Leadership Academy down in Arkansas. Yep, in collaboration with the University of Arkansas.

And that was fantastic. And then I did the pharmacy ownership workshop. And that was another fantastic program. So, it’s like, you dip your toe in and then like it just keeps going. Truly a great opportunity.

Sonja: Well, I’m glad you’re able to take advantage of those opportunities and do school at the same time. I know you guys juggle a lot with everything you’re learning and doing. So being able to take advantage of programs and doing school, I think that’s tremendous. And we really recognize you guys going above and beyond. Like you said, like that’s what that presidential scholarship is all about. recognizing those students who are really taking the time outside of their studies to develop as leaders in the profession. They’re also investing, right? You’re investing so much of yourself into the profession already. And that’s why that scholarship is so important, too, for us to recognize that. It’s like the little bit that we can do. We know there’s tremendous amount of student loan debt out there, and I wish we could cover the full thing for everybody. But that is a future dream, I guess, for us.

So, for students who might be listening, who might be considering applying for an NCPA Foundation scholarship, what advice would you maybe give them about the application process, ways that they can develop, right, like taking advantage of these programs, things like that, to be able to qualify for one?

Emily 5:31: I mean, I would just say put yourself out there. You’re gonna-- I know that I have always felt very unqualified to apply for anything that I’ve applied to, but I did it anyway just because it’s like, if you don’t tell somebody that you want an opportunity, you’re never going to get it. The worst that they can say is “no”. And you’re probably more qualified than you think because no one else is asking either; so you might as well put your hat in the ring.

Often times as students we feel like we don’t belong or we compare ourselves to another student and it cheats us out of an opportunity that we could have. So really just. Take the time to think deeply about what you want to do with your career and find the organization that lines up with that and for me it was NCPA. And that has just been really invaluable my entire career. So I would encourage every student to just go for it.

Sonja: That’s great advice. Yeah. Say goodbye to that imposter syndrome. I think Jay Phipps on a previous podcast kind of mentioned that too, where he’s like, you know, if you don’t believe in yourself and you don’t advocate for yourself and you don’t show up for yourself, no one else is going to do that for you. And so, you’re right. You’re right. It takes a lot of confidence in putting yourself out there.

Emily: And honestly, like, sometimes you just gotta fake it till you make it. Like, for me at least, I’ve definitely lived by that. Fake it till you make it, and then one day, like, you’re exactly where you wanted to be. So it all works out.

Sonja: I love that. So… beyond the scholarship, you also did an internship with NCPA. Can you tell us about what that experience was like? What is something you learned during that experience that surprised you?

Emily: Yeah, my internship over the summer was probably my most memorable and favorite experience throughout pharmacy school thus far. I’m from a small town and going to DC because I was in person in Alexandria—so going to DC was like mind blowing to me, not just the work, but like the place itself…

I remember, I think it was my first or second week, I had to go to Capitol Hill and I just remember texting one of the staff members and being like, I’ve been on the metro for an hour. I am in Baltimore. Like, I don’t know where I am. So I learned a lot about myself and my lack of direction sense- and Google Maps. But I’m really good at the metro now in that area.

Outside of the personal development, there was, of course, a lot of professional development. I got to meet some fantastic pharmacists and non-pharmacists on staff at NCPA. And they support the mission of NCPA and just the profession as a whole in a way that I don’t think is recognized often or students or pharmacists don’t even realize that we need, but they’re doing it. So, shout out to the NCPA staff.

When it comes to kind of what I was doing day-to-day, I learned a lot about the importance of sustainability during my time with NCPA. The progr-NCPA as a whole is very robust as an organization. They are doing everything and anything to keep independent pharmacy alive and thriving. And so, I learned the importance of creating processes and making changes that would outlast my time at NCPA and also serve the membership in a way that’s meaningful and actually makes a difference. So, I believe that kind of applies for more than just the foundation and NCPA, like that applies to all of independent pharmacy.

Sonja: Absolutely.

Emily: Yeah, we need sustainable changes that last in our profession, especially in business for our communities. So it’s there far past the time that we are.

Sonja: That’s a big part of why we’re starting to dip our toes into succession planning. Because again, it’s like, yeah, you’re doing the day-to-day stuff, but like, what if something happens to you? Like, what if something happens to your family? Who’s going to take that role on next? And do they have the resources and the operational setup, right, to be able to take it on and keep going from there? And so to your point, like doing all of that legwork on an administrative side is so crucial, like even in pharmacy. It’s like, if you’re gonna run a business, you also have to have a plan in place…if something happens to you, what happens to your business? And I just think that’s a lot of students don’t even think about, right? Because when you’re a student, like you’re just kind of focused on like right here, right now, I just, I got to get through this and then I got to get to my next thing. I got to get a job. I got to make money.

But then you get to a place where you’re like, okay, but like now I need to like plan long term… And so I think those kinds of experiences, I’m really impressed that you got that out of the internship experience, right? It’s not a very long internship. It is pretty condensed. They kind of fire hose you with all this stuff.

Emily: They do.

Sonja: I think it’s wonderful that you got that experience out of it. And I think that will really serve you well long term. Some of your work, too with the internship focused on the student business plan competition. Can you walk us through kind of like what that project entailed? And maybe there were some other projects you worked on too that you want to talk about?

Emily: Yeah. It felt like there was a new project every day. It is like a fire hose, but in the best way. The business plan competition was my most… long-term project that I worked on at NCPA and one of my most favorite. Being trusted with like that historic of a competition was really meaningful for me. But the gist of what we were doing was—I competed prior in a local business plan competition that models NCPA’s because my school, you could compete locally and then win that and then you can submit to nationals.

Sonja: Oh okay- wow I didn’t realize that.

Emily: Yeah, it’s a little competitive at USC. So, I did that. And it was a train wreck. I knew nothing. The first year was not good. But I learned a lot about the process of creating a business plan. And in looking at the current rubric and resources, I felt like it was a great baseline, but there was more we could provide students with when it comes to guidance.

So, we did a focus group of past participants, graders, board members, just different stakeholders and got their feedback and kind of created a history of the competition because that didn’t really exist. And we refocused the competition to focus more on innovation and providing communities with what they need rather than what is expected we provide them. Because those are two very different things.

Like you’re expected to fill prescriptions, give vaccines, have an OTC section, but what the community needs, they might not even know that they need it. So, we really tried to realign the rubric with that idea as well as focusing on that service-based model rather than a products-based model. Because as pharmacists, like, you’re really equipped to do so much more than you’re doing clinically. And I guess the gap is that we’re not getting paid to do those things. So of course, the business plan is at the end of the day, an academic exercise. And, you know, you can make things up and it’s like, oh, we’re gonna get paid to do this and this. And in the real world, that’s not how it is. But it’s a great way to start and get students thinking, how can we make a change and advocate for us to get paid for those services in a meaningful way? But that was a fun project and took a lot of work, but I’m excited. We’ll be releasing all of the new content in like a week or something. Look out for that.

Sonja: Amazing. Thanks so much for doing all of that work on that project. I know it was very much needed and your expertise and insights, right? As someone who’s gone through it through your own local school and then like at the national level, I just think that brings tremendous amount of value to us too, like getting that perspective from people who actually live it and do it right is also really important. So thank you so much for all that work you did on that.

Emily: Yeah, it was a great project. Can’t wait to see this year’s participants. The other project I did that was a favorite for sure and was a little last minute, but it was good—we had a board member, well, the past president, Jeff Harrell, he had kind of given a task to NCPA that he wanted to start board of directors visits at different colleges of pharmacy.

Sonja: Oh yeah.

Emily: So, the trouble with it was how do we organize this in a way that is like efficient and makes sense and every school is getting a board member. So, I got to create software and kind of figure out a way to make that matching process work and easy for students to navigate on their end too. And the most rewarding part of that was seeing it start to finish, like seeing it from here’s this like idea, we kind of know what they want, but we don’t really know what they want to like, here are some actual visits that happened in the fall, so that was really cool to see. We had Ashley Moose come to the University of South Carolina. And that was a fantastic visit. We only had probably 18 to 20 members when she came. But after she had come, we had 35 plus people come to meetings.

Sonja: Okay, so it was really successful in increasing visibility.

Emily: Yeah, it really showed a lot of visibility for independent pharmacy and got our student body excited. And most of those people that showed up weren’t even members of NCPA. So which I think is a good thing.

Sonja: I think so too.

Emily: But I know right now there’s for a lot of students, there’s this sentiment of like, I need to do a residency, I need to do 2 years of clinical residency, I need to go to the hospital. And that’s very valuable and important that we have those students and those pharmacists that pursue it. But it’s important that we also have the students that are on the front lines of their communities caring for them. And it might just be filling prescriptions, but in my brain, it’s not. You’re a pillar of your community and you’re really doing a lot. So having the board members kind of push that more in the colleges has been really great to see.

Sonja: Yeah, I recently went to my independent pharmacy because my son needed a prescription. And I mean, they sent it over, right? You’re in the doctor’s office. What pharmacy do you want? And you tell them. But she called me on like a Sunday afternoon and was like, hey, I just want to make sure that you don’t need this prescription like right now because I could like run it to your house if you need it right now. And I was like; this is the difference. Like this is what frontline independent community pharmacists are and do. Like no way would a Rite Aid or a CVS or a Walgreens or even like Meijer or Kroger or whatever pharmacy, call me up on a Sunday and be like, Hey, do you need this prescription? I’ll drop it off to your house. So… I agree.

And I think a lot of people, if they aren’t exposed to independent community pharmacy and they are pursuing pharmacy as a like career, they don’t understand like what’s possible either. Right? And so I think there’s so much value, like you said, to what NCPA is doing on so many fronts, so much value to making sure that all of these higher education institutions understand that there’s still value to becoming an independent community pharmacist and that we continue to lift up and support the profession in that way. So it’s really great to hear you say that.

Emily: Yeah. And you know, like you don’t see one thing like I tell classmates and everyone in my class, I’m insane because I’m just so like in it for independent pharmacy. But like the CVS, the Walgreens, the Rite Aid of the worlds, they’re not going to be in a rural area for the most part. Some will, but they end up leaving rural areas first. And that is where we have such a great opportunity as students to come in and open our own independent pharmacies or backfill and create an opportunity for patients to have that care.

Sonja: I completely agree. I think that’s really the sweet spot for future for independent community pharmacy is focusing on those rural areas as like the areas that we specialize and dominate in. And that’s not to say there’s not value in having an independent community pharmacy in a metro area or suburban area. It’s just the things that an independent community pharmacy can do in a rural community to support even other rural communities, right? So if you’re here and there’s like four other communities around you, like you’re serving all those communities, like these people will drive an hour to you. So… I think there’s a lot there. And that’s part of why we started the Rural Pharmacy Ownership Accelerator, because we started to see that pattern. Like we’re seeing so many independent community pharmacies in rural communities that are doing really well, honestly. Like, their business is doing well….

Emily: Yeah, my boss just opened a second one in another rural area. Like, the reimbursement’s higher because there’s no one out there, and the patients are just so grateful and excited to be part of their care.

Sonja: You get way more support, like, because you are so integrated into the community then. You’re not just another pharmacy. Like, you’re THE pharmacy.

Emily: Yeah, truly, you are. There’s no one around. But yeah, so another thing that I want to make sure we say on this podcast, because I was so thrilled to read this, this year. So Drew Register, NCPA’s Director of Student Affairs, said that you brought an impressive blend of independent pharmacy experience, business acumen, and technical expertise. And I just think that is such high marks, okay, coming from him. That means like you really went above and beyond for NCPA with the work you did, and he really sees everything you’re bringing to the table, right?

Where did you develop those skills? Like, does that just come naturally to you to be excellent like that? Especially like the business side of things. You mentioned, right, that you’ve got some of that pharmacy ownership in your blood and pharmacy. And so… I am curious to hear kind of where some of that comes from and what students can do, right, who are on their journey to pharmacy school to also develop those skills.

Emily: Yeah, that’s really nice of Drew to say he’s a sweetheart. I really enjoyed working with him over the summer. When it comes to where those skills come from, I guess it’s just a mix of a lot of different opportunities I’ve kind of stumbled into when it comes to technical expertise. I mean, I was in engineering for a while, so lots of these boring math programming classes that no one wants to take that I suffered through. So that’s given me a leg up that I didn’t think that I would ever need in my career.

And also my dad, he was like a systems administrator for our county and we would just talk computers every night he came home from work. So he kind of gave me that itch to learn about computers and stuff. And that’s been really helpful. As for independent pharmacy experience, I think the best experience I’ve had is just working. I started out at a Kroger and then I went to Blythewood Pharmacy, another local independent. And then I was like, oh, I’m going to try the hospital. And then I went to the hospital into compounding and then back into independent because I was like, I can’t do this, like no patient care thing.

That was really enjoyable getting to work. You just see firsthand the impact you’re making and like, that helps with also the business acumen side of it, because like when you see you’re underwater on every other prescription you submit, it gives you the drive and the passion to want to make a change.

So, seeing that is what got me to compete in the business plan competition originally. And that was like the first baby step and it was a train wreck. I didn’t know what I was doing. And then one of the judges was Schwanda Flowers...

…From POLA [Pharmacy Ownership and Leadership Academy]. And she’s like, you need to apply to go to POLA. And you need to come learn how to do this the right way. She said it very nicely, but went to POLA, kind of dipped my toe in there. And I actually met Summer, another Student Leadership Council member who encouraged me to apply for SLC. So, then I applied for SLC and that opened the door to the ownership workshop. And things just kind of kept compounding on one another. That really helped me flex that business muscle, I guess, learning different financial components. But for the students looking for the first step, I truly do think it’s getting a job and working. John, the current owner, the owner of Prosperity Drug that I work with, when I first started, he and I would close the store at the end of the night, and it’s slow the last hour. And so we would just talk, like, I would just pester him with questions about pharmacy and school and finance and drug ordering and anything I could think of and that—that was some of the most valuable insight I’ve ever gotten into pharmacy business because he’s been doing it so long and he’s such a leader in his field. So really finding that mentor and that person is like the best thing you can do for yourself in this area.

Sonja: For sure. And I think your journey is so good because it is just a natural flow of like, I went and did this and then that led me to this. And then I went to this and then that led me. But you’re open to those experiences. Like you’re willing to say, yes, I will try that. And thanks so much for telling me about this, you know? And I think that’s another thing for students to remember is to be open to those connections and experiences and say yes. Say yes, you’re all right. If it’s a train wreck, it’s fine. If it leads you to something else, you know, that’s also helpful.

So, you mentioned in your reflection that innovation isn’t something we’re explicitly taught in pharmacy, but this internship equipped you with tools to become an innovator. Can you expand on that a little bit? What does innovation mean to you in the context of pharmacy?

Emily: Yeah, that’s a really good question. So, I guess for me, innovation within pharmacy in particular means kind of seeing beyond the way things have always been done and imagining what care could look like. And that’s a great thing to have that like foresight of what innovation should be. But ultimately, you need action behind those thoughts and those words.

So, you have to have the confidence and you have to build the skill so then you can actually go implement it because words without action truly mean nothing, especially in this profession. So, seeing those gaps in care and finding an innovative way to create a system or a service or something that is serving other people and then getting paid to do it, which is a really, that’s the hard part is getting paid to do it…

In school, we’re taught, you know, a lot of clinical knowledge, taught the guidelines, we’re taught basic workflow, we can work up a patient really well by the time we graduate. And that is super important. But we’re not, I don’t, at least for me, I don’t think we’re explicitly taught how to identify those unmet needs in our communities. And the first step is identifying the need, but the second step is doing something about it, right? And that internship that I did over the summer really changed that for me. It really allowed me to go from this like, oh, that sucks that this exists the way that it does to, oh, this exists in a really not great way. What can we do to fix it? So having the room and the tools to be able to see a problem and then ask for help from someone who’s an expert or who points you in the right direction to get help is just really invaluable.

Sonja: Yeah, that’s tremendous. And like you said, there’s innovation, like there’s all kinds of things we can do. But is it actually something we can take action on or is it a dream?

And I think that that’s where sometimes people get lost because they think it’s all dreams, but it’s not true. Like what you said, there are things you can actually do that are innovative, that you can take action on today. Like you can do it right now. It’s just a matter of seeing those opportunities and understanding how to look for them that I think sometimes… especially with how much pharmacy has been beat down for so many years, people struggle then to see the light at the end of the tunnel kind of thing of like, oh yeah, this is something I can do and this would actually work. So… I hope we have more and more pharmacists like you coming up to kind of help…

Emily: Thank you. Me too.

Sonja: To move the profession forward. And then, yeah, tell me a little bit more about innovation you’ve seen at Prosperity Drug or any independent pharmacy you’ve worked at that has excited you, that has kind of inspired you for something you might want to implement for your own pharmacy in the future?

Emily: Yeah. One really like cool need I guess I’ve seen at Prosperity is a lot of GLP-1 usage. You know, that’s all the rage right now, I guess, if that’s how you want to say it. But a lot of people are using GLP-1s and they’re really helpful. But of course, there’s like side effects and different monitoring parameters that go with those drugs. So Prosperity started a, I guess like a GLP-1 visit, like a wellness visit that patients can come in, they can get their blood sugar, their A1C, their height, their weight, their blood pressure, just various different labs that we can do in the pharmacy and then give them a sheet that has everything on it with an explanation and also fax that over to their doctor. So, they’re not the only one that knows like my blood pressure’s in range. That’s great. But your doctor should probably also know we just checked your blood pressure. So, it’s also just creating more collaboration within the community space while, you know, making the patient more of an active participant in their healthcare. I mean, I think before I was in pharmacy school and I didn’t really know about this world very much, it was a lot easier to go up to the pharmacist and ask a question than the doctor. I don’t want to pay $80 to go talk to my doctor.

Sonja: No, for sure.

Emily: I can go up to the pharmacist.

Sonja: Wait an hour for the doctor to come in the room to even talk to you for 5 minutes.

Emily: Yep. And fill out, you know, 10 pages of paperwork that are unrelated. Yeah, I don’t want to do that. But that’s been a really cool program that we’ve started and it’s gained a little bit of traction. It’s interesting to see because the patient, it’s very new to the patients, right? Like it takes a lot of time for them to get used to the idea that I can go to the pharmacy and get labs, some labs done. Like that’s new, that’s different. So it’s been really cool. But one thing I did see at, what pharmacy was it—was out in Missouri, but we were talking about it while I was on my internship and it’s popping up a lot and that’s community health workers. Yeah, that really excites me.

And they’re not gaining quite a lot of traction in South Carolina yet, but I think that they’re going to play a lot bigger of a role in our profession than the average person might think. For those that don’t really know what they’re about, I will try to explain it, but I’m not the expert.

28:27: I think of them as like the quarterback of the pharmacy, like the pharmacist and the doctor designed the game plan for like medication use, follow up diagnosis. They’re making the care plan. But the community health worker is the one that’s addressing the non-medical barriers that derail that pharmacist and provider care plan. So, they’re the ones that are stepping in when it comes to like food insecurity or you know, I didn’t get a paycheck this week, or I have to drop my daughter off at school, and I always forget to use my insulin before. You know, they’re the ones that are kind of stepping in in the areas that pharmacists are equipped to deal with, but we don’t have the time because we’re doing more clinical work. So, ultimately, it’s going to lead to more well-rounded care. So, I’m really excited to see what comes of that as time goes on.

Sonja: I am too. And I’m seeing more and more states start to recognize community health workers as the providers that they are. Again, like to your point of like, we also need to get paid for the services. We can’t just have community health workers giving services and not compensated.

So, some of our grant work, and I know NCPA’s grant work that we’ve been getting in has been focused around that, trying to elevate that in all kinds of different states.

That’s some of the work we’ve done in North Carolina is trying to get more community health workers in pharmacies, making sure that they’re compensated then also for the care that they’re given. And it’s amazing how much they can do and then how much that alleviates for the pharmacist and the pharmacy.

So, to your point, I think we’ll see more of that too, I think over time, even in the long-term care space, because we want more people to be able to age in place. And you can’t really do that if you don’t have support that’s consistent. And a community health worker can provide that kind of support.

Emily: Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see what comes of it. Hopefully all good things in the future.

Sonja: I think so. So how do you think pharmacy students can start developing an innovative mindset even before they graduate?

Emily 30:30: This is such a good question. And I think it’s really personal to each person and what they want individually. It really also depends, I guess, if you’re, if we’re looking at community pharmacy, we’ll be a little bit biased in that, and you want to have an innovative mindset, I think it really starts with getting involved and surrounding yourself with people that are going to push you to be innovative. Like don’t surround yourself with, I guess, the people that are getting comfortable. Yeah, you don’t want to be around people who are just accepting things for what they are.

Oh, we got, you know, reimbursed MAC minus 10%. It’s okay. That’s how businesses go under. That’s how pharmacy doesn’t do well…

31:25: So don’t be that person, like question everything continuously. And you might feel bad for doing so. But even if it’s like-- if you’re in school, and even if it’s a guideline, like I’ve been that student, like, Where’s the guideline coming from? Who’s making that decision? You know, even if it’s “the norm. It might be an old decision.

Sonja: It might be an old decision that does need change.

Emily: Yeah, exactly, So just, I would say be curious and question everything. And with those questions, you’re going to become really motivated to teach yourself when you don’t get the answer you want. So it sounds harsh, but it’s just honest.

32:01: You know, if you want to be an innovator, you kind of you’ve got to push the boundary, whatever that looks like in the area you want to pursue.

Sonja: I love that. That’s really good advice, Emily. Is there anything else you want to share to our listeners before we go?

Emily 32:29: I would just say keep pushing yourself to get involved in NCPA, of course, start with your local chapter, ask about opportunities you can be part of. And anytime a door opens, just walk through it.

That’s what I’ve been doing and so far so good. So, you know, just keep trying your best. But thank you for having me.

Sonja: Thanks for coming on the podcast. And where can people reach out to get in touch with you if they want to follow up?

Emily: Yes, you can actually go on the NCPA website under the Student Leadership Council. We all have a profile and all my contact information is on there if you need anything.

Sonja: Perfect. Awesome. Thanks so much.

Emily: Yeah.

Episode Summary

In this inspiring episode, Emily Fisher shares her unconventional journey from reluctantly rejecting her family’s pharmacy legacy to becoming a passionate advocate for independent community pharmacy. After finding chemical engineering unfulfilling, Emily discovered her calling through a pivotal P1 rotation that revealed the power of personal patient connections. As an NCPA Foundation Presidential Scholarship awardee, she emphasizes how the scholarship provided not just financial support but a crucial “vote of confidence” that she was recognized as a future leader—encouraging students to overcome imposter syndrome and apply for opportunities despite feeling unqualified.

During her transformative summer internship at NCPA headquarters, Emily revamped the Student Business Plan Competition to focus on innovation and service-based models and developed a successful board member visit program that nearly doubled student engagement at her school. Throughout the conversation, Emily challenges the profession to value student contributions, question outdated norms, and push boundaries. She advocates for emerging innovations like community health workers and urges students to surround themselves with people who inspire change rather than accept the status quo. Her closing message is simple but powerful: get involved with NCPA, walk through every door that opens, and never stop questioning everything—because that’s how pharmacy’s next generation will drive meaningful change.