How Pharmacist Can Create Their Own Path

What if the career you’re looking for in pharmacy doesn’t already exist yet?

In this episode of Success in Doses: Becoming on Purpose, I sit down with Ashley Kay Pendrick, CEO of ProsperRx Consulting and co-founder of the Primary Care Pharmacy Institute, for a powerful conversation about creating meaningful work, redefining success, and building a pharmacy career that aligns with who you actually are.

Ashley shares her journey from traditional pharmacy pathways into entrepreneurship, consulting, and helping pharmacists create revenue-generating clinical services inside medical practices and communities. We talk honestly about fear, rejection, burnout, self-reflection, and what it really takes to build something that doesn’t already have a blueprint.

This episode is for pharmacists, pharmacy students, residents, and healthcare professionals who know they are capable of more but are struggling to figure out what that “more” looks like.

We discuss:

•  Why pharmacists need to stop waiting for permission 
•  The business side of clinical pharmacy services 
•  How to pitch your value beyond credentials and residency training 
•  Why intentionality matters when building a career 
•  The importance of understanding your “why” 
•  How pharmacists can create revenue-generating patient care models 
•  Why innovation in pharmacy starts with courage and self-awareness 
•  The difference between chasing titles and building purpose-driven work

Thank you for supporting the show. Follow @successindosespod

career advancement, negotiation skills, pharmacists, personal development, confidence, asking for what you want, mindset shifts, professional growth, self-advocacy, boldness

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Success in Doses. I'm your host, SLA. This podcast is about the real journeys behind meaningful careers, the pivots, the risks, the moments of doubt, and the lessons that shape who we become. Each episode, I sit down with people who are building impactful lives and careers, and we break down the experiences that help them get there. Because success rarely happens overnight, it happens in doses. Let's dive in on becoming on purpose. Becoming on purpose. It is all about creating what you would love to see in your environment and in your clinical practice to make it more meaningful for you. To help us facilitate that conversation, I couldn't think of a better person than to invite Dr. Ashley Kippendrick, the CEO and founder of Prosper RX Consulting and co-founder of the Primary Care Pharmacy Institute. She has been recognized as a top 100 innovator and entrepreneur. The innovation she brings to the healthcare space provides support for medical clinics to integrate clinical pharmacists to collaborate on their team and is educating and coaching pharmacists to do the same thing. She also consults for pharmacies to bring revenue generating strategies, including clinical trials and remote care management. Pharmacists getting involved in these models improve patient care, reduced costs, hospitalizations, and harm from medications, all while increasing a clinic's revenue. And she believes this should be our standard of care. Ladies and gentlemen, listen, I hope you guys are ready to learn today. Welcome to the pod, Ashley. I am so excited to be here with you today. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Great to be here and thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Oh my god, the pleasure really and truly is mine. Um, I first came and heard and saw you through LinkedIn, and I couldn't believe like you sent me a message. I was like, oh my god, I think I've made it in life. Ashley's like wants to do coffee for 15 minutes. But I truly, truly love the space that you're in because as a person who works with student pharmacists, they struggle with believing that there are other opportunities out there for them to create an avenue that they don't even see a lot of other people around them doing. I love origin stories. I wanted to start with yours. As a pharmacist, what did you believe your definition of success was when you were just starting?

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Oh gosh. I think like many, when we graduate, you might have some sort of idea of what the future may look like. But when I was putting my toes into the real world, it was like, what do I want from this? And I think my success and my goal overall, I kind of just like the name in the show is you know, to live my purpose and being really true to myself, my strengths, what I enjoy, and ultimately finding that path in pharmacy. I had that passion overall for pharmacy. But um I'm sure like many of the students you come across, they may feel called in certain directions. And I knew retail and community pharmacy. I mean, it is a I worked in retail as a check in and intern, and I just knew I was like, I don't know that that's my path. So, you know, really intentionally determining your path and looking for that overall. I I mean, so many opportunities continue to come my way, but they just didn't match, you know, where I felt like that's where I belong. That's what I can really do well and do meaningful work that would light up my soul. And I say that that's that's a goal, right? You want to do work that lights up your soul. Yeah. Life is short.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Yeah, make it count. I love because you you're touching on a lot of different things that through the other conversations that I've had continues to be a revolving theme with everyone. Intentionality that we really need to factor in when we're setting our career goals to make sure that the goals we're setting really are an accurate representation of the things that are going to mean a lot to us, like wanting your career to feel meaningful as a result of having alignment with who you are as a person, aligning with what you're doing professionally. Have you always had that, or do you feel like that was a process and journey for you?

SPEAKER_01 5:10

I think that it was a process and a journey. It took me a long while to determine even my path as a student and where I belonged. I knew healthcare was where I felt called to. But then just putting that down as like, okay, where, right? Pharmacy, there's a million different paths, but you say healthcare, and there's a lot of paths that way. So it took me a while. And so I think going through some of the programming within the pharmacy program and the pharmacy that I was offered. I was in some leadership programs and really digging into yourself and reflection. And I went through, you know, the uh your strengths with strength finder and really digging into some of the potential career paths that would fit really well with my strengths. And then ultimately, even some more I mean, the I think the self-work that we put into ourselves. I can't stop, right? I kept working and I still know like some of the things. Um, I think there's um, I guess the five voices is another one that you know it went through as well. And I'm a connector and really passionate overall, obviously advocate for pharmacists, and so bridging that all together. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

That's really cool because I know that like uh I make my, I call them my core resis, the students that go through ResiPrep with me. I make them do like the 16 personality test. And they always wonder, like, why is this an important component? I'm like, well, it's the beginning of a process I hope you continue to do every so often. You step, take a step back to see because you change in different areas as your career develops and like as your priorities shift. But I find the personality test to be a really great tool that gets them starting to know how to talk about themselves because it's such a competitive selection process and it all boils down to how do you talk about yourself? So I love that even with all of the success that you've been able to have, that that part of it continues to be like an integral part, like the continuous reflection over your career. Where are you professionally when you figure out like, I'm going to strike out on my own? Like, I'm going to, what was that journey like? Like, I just feel like I would love to know what's going through your mind, or what was that moment where you realize, like, you know what, Ashley, you're gonna have to build what you want to see.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

I think um, so when I was in that leadership program, the two recommended career paths for me was entrepreneur for education. Oh, interesting. It was like, okay, um, what once I graduated, I worked at an MTM call center and I really enjoyed it and pretty quickly became a manager and trainer. Wow. From there, the learning and development position was where I was at professionally, but I was balancing a lot, and I had, and I think this is where we we um a lot changes. Like you mentioned, uh we have different journeys and phases in life and in a career, but I had had just um had my first child. It was like I was wearing a million hats. Oh yeah, and it was like, man, I was feeling the burnout. I wasn't burnt out, but I was feeling it approaching. Remote life is great, and I will say it's not always all that it's cracked up to be though, because you just keep you keep working and yeah, it's true, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:12

You clock into one job and when that's wrapped, you clock into the other job. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Those moments uh after that and finding a um basically another program that opened up some avenues and some doors. And whoa, I worked at the VA during a rotation. I had a site rotation there, and I was adjusting medicines, I was adding them, I was removing them. It was right when the guidelines changed for the hypertension overall blood pressure goals now. 130, right? Less than 130. That was huge, so everybody was getting something. We were passing it out. That not just the veterans, uh, as well as Indian Health Center, uh, can have that type of care and that pharmacists can bring revenue to medical practices, knowing how to set that up, just like that light bulb went off. But it wasn't necessarily for me, like, I mean, yeah, I want to help a patient, but the world should know this. It wasn't just like a pharmacist should know this, practices should know this, patients should know this. Everybody agrees that people like to talk to pharmacists and that there's not enough involvement, right? Nobody's talking to them enough. Yeah, there are modalities to get us paid for our work, and it doesn't necessarily need a wait for provider status.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Oh my gosh, talk about that because I want I want the listeners to get a sense of you you recognizing that this real opportunity existed, and then like what type of courage and fortitude does it take to be like I'm gonna do it. Like I'm gonna create the thing. So I'm just gonna take a step back for a second. This moment, like every time I get an opportunity to engage with someone on this podcast, I'm always blown away because I'm just like, I can't believe I'm doing it because it was a dream for a long time, but I was scared. Like I was scared to do it. Um and so I always want to talk to other people that are creating and innovating and disrupting to find out if you have any of that second guessing or even uncertainty as you're thinking about this thing that you want to work on and it's so clear in your mind, but bringing it to fruition. Did you have any of that? Okay, so real quick, if you're enjoying this conversation, go ahead and rate and review the podcast. It helps more people find the show and keeps the conversation going. Okay, so let's get back to the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Oh man, I think we're so we're always our Omer's critic. And I do think we get in our own way more than we need to. So I definitely feel for myself, I did um, I put it off for a little while too. You know, when you have a comfort of a job and you're creating something, the momentum is different, right? You've got something to lean back in and you're putting time in, but I don't know that it's fully consistent, right? Right, depending on motivation. And so there was that second guessing, there was a lot of you know, time that lapsed as well. So I think anybody can jump in and say, you know, I'm gonna be a business owner, but then are you gonna take the steps to make that happen really open up the conversations that need to happen with potential clients? And so I second guessed it. Uh and it it takes some courage, it does. But uh, I I mean, I even told some of my clients, I'm like, now you tell me a list of who's in your area and I'll make the outreach. I don't mind. Oh my the light bulbs go off. Hearing the room kind of shifts when people and like medical practices, managers, physicians, even those in the industry that have been with like insurance and like CMS. Wait, you're right. Yeah, I've been in the industry for 20 years. This would work. It's just having that. I think getting in that first or second one, you know, you gotta break through that the fear, you gotta break through the you know, second guessing yourself because once you do it, it becomes not second nature in the beginning. Yeah, but it will give you momentum. And when you fail, you have to get right back up though.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Yeah. And I think this is this is really good because I love how you are you're not selling like it's gonna be awesome, it's gonna be like everybody's gonna say yes, and you're gonna start having practices that are paying you for your time and your expertise. But I love that you're very candid about the fact that there will be a lot of no's, there will be some yeses. It's all about holding on to those yeses and delivering, right? So, can we talk a little bit about how that failure, like that? How have you seen some people that you've worked with handle that rejection or that resistance in their area and being able to overcome it?

SPEAKER_01 14:47

So honestly, I've spoken to some even that are in like the intro phase where we're just chatting to see if our program is a good option for them. And they've tried it in the past. And by trying, though, when you start to dig, they ask one physician. It's like we get deflated, you got one no. Yeah. But in the grand scheme of things, and I know that this is hard to hear, I come from sales too in the background. Like I was in a I was a personal banker. Um well for like eight years. Wait a minute. So you have to hear no. And it takes sometimes seven touches to get a yes at the data. And I know even my partner Marissa, she's like, she'll probably kill me for this. She's like, I want yes every time.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

Yes, I'm with Marissa.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

I'm I'm team Marissa, I'm with her. If you have what to say and who to say it to, has to be the right who as well. Yeah. Then you're gonna get more yeses. And I mean, depending on your goals, you might just need one yes. Yeah. And we help honestly with what to say and how to say it because pharmacists aren't taught business. Yeah. Yeah. And how to really prioritize having these types of conversations. What matters to them? Yeah. I'm sorry, they're not asking you for your C V. They don't want to know if you're a birth board certified or residency trained. And I'm sorry, I know, because this is we we love residencies and we we love sex. Just want to keep tacking more things to their name. Take care of my patients, absolutely insulin, because I don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Right. Oh my god, that's hilarious. It's it's so crucial, like, and I say this all the time like that intersectionality between clinical practice and the business of practice is probably the biggest gap in the current pharmacy education curriculum. Nobody teaches you how to pitch the business case for the clinical service that you are developing. And so if you figure out that there is a way to talk about the business case of all of this amazing stuff that you're doing, that's what makes the biggest difference in the way you start to see success and things shift in your practice. And I think that, like, to your point, providers just want to know, can you solve my problem?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Not making it about you.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

And make it about them. Yeah. And a lot of this would it would be solved. Yep. And you just gotta ask for it. I think we're not naturally inherent and asking, and it's you know, asking for the sale, but like, yeah, can I work with some of 10 of your patients? Like, this is what I can do for you, this is what I charge. Yeah. This is the role, I know. This is the role, right? This is if this is the role though that you're looking for and it's not out there, just make it. Yeah. But that that requires showing up.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

It does. It really does. And so you you you move us right into the next phase. I want my listeners to learn about. What is your program? What do you do? Talk to us a little bit about that because I want more people to know about you and what do you do?

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Yeah. So uh I got together with my partner, Marissa, and we put together the primary care pharmacy institute. And within it, we have all the education, the training, the resources. What are you saying to the physicians? How do you start the conversation, some of the contracting, collaborative practice agreements? What type of conditions are you really set out to help? We also kind of make sure and fine-tune like, does it match your expertise? If not, then let's talk. But we have that training and educational program with regular coaching, things of that nature, everything you need to get up and running and started and to have really a support system, a community of pharmacists that are in this also doing the same thing. We've also basically packaged a very similar program up for pharmacies as well. And really focusing on the, you know, the care management side and capturing again revenue. Yeah. Pharmacists have revenue generating capabilities. And how you document, where you're documenting it, and who you're partnered with. So you can make it happen. There's no more excuses.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Yeah. And that statement, pharmacists have revenue generating capabilities. It's such a radical thought in my mind, right? Because for a really long time, before I went into AMCAR, that wasn't anything that I heard anyone say until I got into AMCA. And it's like all these this work that we are doing, you can clearly demonstrate that, like, yes, we're avoiding spending, but we actually are also generating money for this hospital. And I think for a lot of people, that's a really radical thing to think about because those of us that are doing it are not talking openly about it. And I think it's one of the things, like I hope, like if you're a listener, that that's one of the things that encourages you to reach out to Ashley because I love what you're doing because you are introducing not just like an inferior option, but you really are truly creating an opportunity for pharmacists to do this thing that's been a slogan since the beginning of time. Oh, I want to practice at the top of my license. And I'm like, I never really know what, like, what does that mean? Ashley, can you help us? Okay, so real quick, if you're enjoying this conversation, go ahead and rate and review the podcast. It helps more people find the show and keeps the conversation going. Okay, so let's get back to the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

So honestly, so I do get these conversations and people may get a little confused because there's different terminology when it, or I guess you ways to say a consultant pharmacist, right? Yeah. I think the old school long term kick, right? There's long term consulting pharmacist. But when it comes to consulting pharmacists, big picture, especially nowadays, it is really a pharmacist that is out there providing clinical. Or other consulting type services, whether that is the medical practice, legal practices, I mean, the options of who your clients could end up being as a consultant pharmacist is endless. But for the program, walking through what a day and like you mentioned in AMCAR, if you've not had that experience, you might not really know what that means. Yeah. What that would mean is you take and see patients. You have a clinical patient panel that you are either trying to grow or that you're maintaining. And you can either be remote care of those patients and having telephonic interactions with them as well as uh remote therapeutic monitoring. So you got some technology and you get to see their numbers. And then there is that actual in-person where you're in the medical practice. You can set this up in a pharmacy. You're in a pharmacy, but you're collaborating with physicians as a partner and extension of them too. And you see patients, you obviously can adjust therapy, educate them, really all of the things that we're kind of doing or want to do already, but in a regulated area as far as what you need to document. Uh, some of them have specific timelines and what you need to do to be able to capture the revenue. So if you start thinking about, you know, why do doctors always want me to come in for a visit for this little tiny thing? Well, because it brings revenue. Visit means revenue. And so it'd be very similar, just like that, for a pharmacist. So that would be a day in the life.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Yeah, that I mean, but that context is so powerful because I think when you talk to people, they're like, I want to do consulting pharmacists. I never knew what that meant. Like whenever I ever heard it, I never understood what it meant. And I always said, consulting about what? You know what I mean? And so your explanation about the fact that you who your client is and the way in which you can be impactful and revenue generating, like these are new vocabularies for pharmacist because it's not necessarily when we think about our practice, like we're thinking like I'm a revenue generating entity of any either standalone or integrated practice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

You know what I'm saying? Like, cause no, I we're usually in the cost, like you said earlier, savings aspect. And I have come across many pharmacists that are kind of in the same boat where we're they're already working in some of these AMCare type settings in the cost savings aspect.

SPEAKER_02 24:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

If they're working in that and they're not, again, putting it in kind of the dotting the eyes in the right way, capturing revenue, at the end of the day, they couldn't. I mean, savings is great. Kind of put yourself at risk there. You should be used to be having the conversation so that way you're protecting yourself, but also again, advancing the profession too. We don't need full provider status. And I I mean, even talking to some of the lawyers, do we want it liability-wise?

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Like, really, it's a real conversation because it's all like I came up in the era of we need to go and advocate for provider status. So then when I started meeting advanced pharmacy practitioners and consultant pharmacists, and and I'm like, who are all these people and what they do? All I know is we have to have provider status to be able to do anything. And so I hope that as you're listening, or like for anyone listening right now, you're at least curious to want to know what Ashley and Marissa are doing to find out more. Because every time I talk to you, that's what happens, right? Every time I talk to you, you teach me a completely different angle and component that I was completely unaware of. And that makes it exciting to talk to you, but also you're like really nice, and I really like you too. That makes it really, really nice to talk to you. For the person who is listening to this episode right now, and they're having what I had the first time I talked to you and learning about all the ways that you're disrupting and innervating, and really it's advocacy because the more pharmacists you help to position themselves in their community in this way, it really does elevate the profession in that community's eyes. Like they're able to see pharmacists in a completely different eye, uh different light, right? What do you how can whoever is listening to this right now, how can they find you and Marissa and say, hey, can we talk?

SPEAKER_01 27:03

So I'm quite active, as you know, on LinkedIn. Yeah. And so you're welcome to go ahead and jump in there and just send me a DM. Honestly, I'm gonna tell you, and it's kind of crazy, but physicians and providers, they need us. There might be a few haters. There's always gonna be a hater, but this work is hard. Yeah, patient care is hard, they're struggling in their own ways. And if you can come in and you have what to say, and you know, you can set it up like, hey, no, I'm not just gonna cost you money. I will bring you in money, and you don't have to talk about those side effects anymore. I got it. And those innovative ones are searching, so you gotta get out there like now.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

So the listener who is hearing and meeting you right now for the first time, and they're thinking, I know I can do more, but I've no idea where to start. What is one piece of advice you have for that pharmacist that is discovering you and Marissa for the first time about where they need to go from here? Once they've recognized that they feel like their training, their skill set, their passion, they have more to offer. What is the recommended next step?

SPEAKER_01 28:25

As far as next steps, I would say, why not? I keep thinking about like what's your why? And to really digging deep, like what would you do for free? Take the student loans away, pretend, right? Pretend. What would you do for free? And does this sound like it lines up? Because, like you said earlier, I mean, I'm not, I'm not painting roses and butterflies. I'm not gonna tell you it's gonna be easy. And truthfully, we want people to make this a success, which means we have to show up. And that means that you have to be really motivated. And so we can be at your fire, but you gotta also take the next steps too. So getting into your why and really understanding like what would you want to do forever? We look at other people's careers, other pharmacists, and we're like, I want what they have, but like I want this role. And I mean, I'll use MSL, like I want this, I want that, this. Can you explain it and why exactly you want that? Yeah. And do you want that for five years? Do you want that two years? Do you want that for 10, 20, 30? Like, yeah. Gotta really look at that. I think that, you know, chasing the shiny objects that everybody else passed, it's not gonna give you that long-term purpose that we're looking for.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Absolutely. And I think that what you said there is so profound because I think professional careers in general, we're all looking for a blueprint. We want to go down the path that's already been beaten down. I think what you're offering here is an opportunity to be a pathfinder, but everybody is just looking to go down the path that's already been discovered because it's like, I'm just gonna blaze that trail. But you're offering, it's why I'm so excited. And I want more people to know about you because I'm like, there is an opportunity for you to forge your own way forward. And I think it's cool to have role models, to have people that are doing things that you find really interesting, really cool, but that back to reflection and placing things like in the shadow of purpose. Ha ha, becoming a purpose. I snuck it in there. But placing things in the shadow of purpose, it's not a guarantee, but I think it maximizes your chances of ending up somewhere where like regret doesn't get to come along on the journey, right? So I love that. How can people find you and where? Tell them about all of the different places.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Yes. So you can find me on LinkedIn and you can always email me as well, ashley.rx.org. I'm not as active on everything else because again, priorities and absolutely narrowing in so you don't spread yourself too thin.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

100%. I understand fully. I understand fully. It's a lot. I can't thank you enough for saying yes as quickly as you did. I really appreciate your time. You should check out Ashley. She'll tell you exactly what you need to do in your area, how to start, and she'll even help you figure out where exactly your lane could potentially be. Like she's a great resource. Thank you for what you do, and thank you for doing this this evening after you put your babies down. I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Love, pleasure really was mine. Thanks, Ashley. Okay, so now that it is just us, I cannot tell you how absolutely amazing what Ashley and her partner are doing is. As a person, you guys know I am super pro-residency, but I'm also the first person to tell you that residency is not the end-all be-all of your career. Your ability to be innovative and your ability to take a risk, and your ability to stay open-minded about all the ways in which you can leverage the PharmD is how you end up meeting and engaging with people like Ashley. And I can tell you for a fact that what they are doing and teaching pharmacists how to make the business decision for the clinical services that we are trained to deliver, it's a game changer for us because it means that our options aren't just limited to community and pharmacy and industry, but we can actually create the types of careers that we envision for ourselves, for our community, for a particular patient population that we are passionate about for an unmet need in our community. So I just want to say again, thank you so much to Ashley for agreeing to do this and agreeing to come on and lend her voice to the podcast, because that's what this is about. This is about opening your mind up to new people, people you may know, but not maybe have a really good understanding of how they function. But people like Ashley are an absolute necessity for the profession right now, because at times when you're online, it just feels like everybody is just going along to get along and knowing that the opportunity absolutely exists for us to create the careers and the futures and the close the care gaps in our communities the way we want to. That we can have a community and a support system to teach us how to do that. Yeah, you bet that that's a voice that I want you to know is out there that exists, and a person that I want you to know is out there, exists, and is doing a lot of work to bring more of us on board. As always, I am grateful for you being here and listening in. Please rate and review the show. It is super important to growing this thing, and it's super important to making the podcast more discoverable to other people. As always, I will bring you another brand new episode next Monday. And I'm looking forward to having you join me again. Thank you and have a wonderful rest of your week. Okay, bye. If this episode gave you something to think about, something to hold on to, or even something to act on, I want to ask you for one more thing. Take a moment to write and review the podcast. It feels really small, but it's actually one of the biggest ways you can support the show. It helps more people find these conversations and become part of this community we're building right here on Success and DOS.