Female Pharmacy Leaders Network
It was February 2021. The world was still deep in the COVID-19 pandemic. Pharmacy teams were exhausted, overstretched and doing extraordinary work in near-impossible conditions — and then Komal George published a LinkedIn post.
It was not carefully planned, it was not a strategy — it was a call to action. She wrote about the absence of women of colour from pharmacy leadership and asked anyone who knew them to tag the women who were breaking through.
The response was immediate. Tags flooded in, as did comments and private messages. Women across community, hospital, primary care and academia saying some version of the same thing: ‘I thought it was just me. I did not realise others felt this way.’
Reena Barai reached out to Komal directly. She too had been the only woman of colour in the room for far too long. In fact, Reena had become the first Asian female to hold positions on both the National Pharmacy Association’s board and Community Pharmacy England’s committee. However, rather than wear that as a badge of honour, she felt the weight of it — she did not want to be the first and only.
In that moment, both women realised that what they had each experienced was not in their heads. It was a fundamental, structural issue in the profession and it needed to be addressed.
Globally, 65% of pharmacists are women and rising. Yet only 36% of senior leadership positions are held by women
The answer was obvious. There was no organisation in UK pharmacy of which its primary purpose was the leadership development, community and advocacy of women across all pharmacy sectors. The data told the same story: women make up 63% of pharmacist registrants and 85% of registered pharmacy technicians. Globally, 65% of pharmacists are women and rising. Yet only 36% of senior leadership positions are held by women, not because the pipeline is broken, but because the conditions are.
From a post to a movement
That post brought the three of us together. Komal, Reena and Harpreet Chana — three Asian female community pharmacists who had previously held or were holding leadership positions in the profession. We came together with one aim: to find, develop and support female pharmacy professionals to release their inner leader.
Our first event was a panel discussion to mark NHS International Women’s Day in March 2021. We heard from three extraordinary women: Tase Oputu, then head of pharmacy at Newham Hospital; Sedina Agama, then chief pharmacist at Merton Clinical Commissioning Group; and Helen Kilminster, the first pharmacist primary care network clinical director. The room, virtual as it was, felt electric.
Sometimes you have to borrow the courage of others to take your next step
When it ended, we knew we could not let it be a one-off. Sedina’s words stayed with Komal for a long time afterwards: “Sometimes you have to borrow the courage of others to take your next step.” That was exactly what we were trying to build. A place to borrow courage. A place to lend it.
What followed was not linear. Those monthly meet-ups became the heartbeat of the network. We covered topics such as racism in the workplace, toxic leadership and male allyship. We heard career stories that inspired us and some that made us ache with compassion. We watched women in our community stand for professional body elections, take on board roles, step forward as DEI and sustainability leads, move from one sector to another, and start their own businesses. We received messages that stopped us in our tracks:
“I haven’t been so captivated by anything in a long time. What a wonderful group of articulate, grounded, professional women. It was so refreshing to hear conversations about the real juggles of real life for real women in the world of pharmacy.”
“I’m grateful to have found this network and be inspired by all the amazing colleagues in it. I always leave feeling excited about what I can achieve.”
Those messages are why we kept going, through the pockets of time the three of us could find.
Female Pharmacy Leaders Network
The conversation that changed everything
Five years in, Komal had felt a growing sense that the network needed to become something more than the three of us could sustain on goodwill and determination alone. The impact was real, but it was fragile in the way that all passion projects are: dependent on individuals staying passionate, available and aligned.
She also knew that our members valued our independence deeply. We had never been owned by or beholden to any pharmacy organisation, employer or commercial partner. That had to be protected. And she could see that the women in our community needed more: more structure, more depth, more of what had made the meetups so valuable but built into something that could serve them for the long term.
So, she had a conversation with Reena and Harpreet. She asked the question directly — who is ready and able to take the network to its next stage?
Reena put her hand up. Harpreet, whose own business — the Mental Wealth Academy — was growing and demanded her full focus, made the decision that the time was right for her to step away. We are grateful for everything she built with us for the past five years. The foundation she helped lay is part of everything we are now.
Komal and Reena took the decision together: they would commit fully, formalise the structure and build the Female Pharmacy Leaders Network (FPLN) into something that would outlast both of them. That meant becoming a community interest company (CIC).
What being a community interest company actually means
A CIC is a legal structure designed specifically for organisations that exist to benefit a community, not to generate profit for shareholders. Becoming a CIC means our income and assets are locked to our mission by law. Every penny we generate goes back into supporting women in pharmacy leadership.
We are also formally accountable to a regulator and independent. If we were ever to dissolve, our remaining assets must transfer to another organisation with a similar community purpose. The work continues, whatever happens to us personally as founders.
The women in our community do not just want a space to gather — they want something that will still be there in ten years
That matters to us more than any headline, because the women in our community do not just want a space to gather. They want something that will still be there in ten years, still advocating, still developing, still holding the profession to account on the gap between who pharmacy is and who leads it.
What comes next
Becoming a CIC is the foundation for everything we are now building. We are growing towards 2,500 members by March 2027. Our annual day retreat took place on 23 June 2026 at Tofte Manor in Bedfordshire: a day designed to restore, reconnect and reignite the leader in every woman who walks through the door. We have ambitious plans to deliver more in-person events and online meet-ups this year, and the programme will only grow from here.
We are delighted to welcome Anjna Sharma as our interim chief operating officer. We chose each other, and that matters deeply to us. Anjna brings the operational leadership and depth of experience that will allow us to build a network with foundations strong enough to remain true to its core values, not just in the years of passion and momentum, but for the long term.
We are still, at heart, that LinkedIn post. Honest about the problem, committed to being the change. And now, finally, on our journey towards building to last.
Female Pharmacy Leaders Network
