In the Life Of: Dr Kate Goldie

The aesthetic trainer discusses how she’s adapted to her new working routine

How I start my morning... I like to make the most of my morning, so I always try to go for a walk on the beach with my dogs before I head into London for work. After just over an hours’ train journey, my first stop when I arrive is always Pret A Manger. I get myself an oat latte, as well as a coffee for my business manager and receptionist. Oh, and croissants! We always start our working day by having a catch-up over breakfast, discussing and planning our day before the rest of the team gets in. Our day-to-day schedule is quite complex at the moment, so I think it’s important that we always implement this, and it’s also just quite a nice way to start the morning! Before COVID-19, 50% of what I did was training practitioners in person so my challenge recently has been working out how I can make virtual training as useful to people as possible. Recently I’ve been doing some international broadcasts to Australia and Asia, so we tend to get in and set up our filming equipment for around 8am. Once the broadcast is done, we’ll film some models for case studies to feature on the new Medics Direct training platform, which is set to launch early next year. At the minute, we’re trying to build a detailed portfolio of video examples for unique injection techniques.

My afternoons consist of… We recently bought a blender, so my team has been trying to kickstart lunchtime with a blend of kale or spinach and blueberries. It makes you feel like you’re doing something positive for your body! The first part of my afternoon is usually full of meetings. I’m currently working on a consensus paper with a group of global practitioners, so I spend a lot of time talking to them and writing it virtually. Once that’s done, I’ll move on to seeing patients – I would say that on average my days are about 50% business and 50% clinical. I see about 15-20 patients a day at an absolute maximum, which I think is because I work at a slower pace than other practitioners – I’m very meticulous! I enjoy seeing my patients the most – every person who comes into my clinic is unique and it’s fascinating to me. There’s such magic in every individual person’s face, and you need to make sure you don’t lose that by making them look like everyone else. My working day typically finishes at around 7pm, but this always varies! Once I get home I like to relax with my partner and binge watch Netflix documentaries or read a book. He also recently got me a hammock for inside the house, so I like to sit in it after a long day – it’s become my small personal space of relaxation! How my routine has changed… Over the last few months I’ve had to adapt to a completely different working routine, and I’m sure this is something most people have experienced. For example, usually I would have blocks of days throughout the year which are solely for speaking at aesthetic conferences or events. I love working that way because it means I can be absorbed in that one thing for three or four days and give it my complete focus. Now, because all events have been moved online, my work as a speaker gets mixed in with everything else throughout the day. I’ve had to learn how to move from project to project quickly, which is probably a good learning curve for me. What I also really miss about attending conferences is the camaraderie with everyone, especially right at the end. I always think if you’re going to do something stressful, you need that celebration after! Recently we’ve started to implement virtual parties and cocktails at the end of the day when an event finishes, which is fun. It doesn’t match seeing everyone in person though!

My most memorable day… About five years ago I was at a small meeting for the Royal Society of Medicine and I did a lecture on regenerative aesthetics. It was an important day in my career because the topic was about an entirely new structure; discussing how aesthetics can have a beneficial impact on the way that tissue ages. Normally I’m not worried about doing presentations because I have done so many throughout my career, but I was nervous about this one because it was on something completely new and I’d never heard of anyone else doing a talk on it before. To take an idea from my mind, research it, and then bring it to the aesthetics community was scary, but to hear other people say they thought it was interesting and give positive feedback was amazing. It definitely changed the way that I think about aesthetics in regards to human ageing, and I’ve been passionate about regenerative medicine ever since.

Why I started in aesthetics… To be honest at the start I thought it would be something I would just do for fun and pass through, but I just loved the industry and the people so much. Everyone who works in aesthetics is so creative and bold. The reason you start something and the reason you stay in something is very different.

My favourite treatment… Sculpting with fillers, for sure. I like to judge things as I go and be able to see the art forming in front of me.

My favourite hobby… Reading! Me and my family recently set up a challenge where we each had to pick one of the world’s top 100 books, and it had to be something we wouldn’t normally choose. I ended up with The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, so I’m currently making my way through that.