In January this year we were delighted to take on Camille Joly, a Chemistry & Chemical Engineering undergraduate from France, as our New Product Development Intern within the R&D team. Unfortunately, Camille’s internship with us is soon to be over as the time has come for her to return to university and complete her studies.
In today’s blog, we catch up with Camille and reminisce over her time here at Oat Cosmetics…
Q. Why did you apply to work at Oat Cosmetics?
A. After completing a five-month internship in a multinational pharmaceutical company, I realised that I also wanted to experience life in a smaller organisation, where I could see the value of my hard work and play an influential role in the success of the business. This, combined with my passion for sustainability and the use of natural cosmetic ingredients, led me to Oat Cosmetics and the role of New Product Development Intern.
Q. What R&D project have you most enjoyed working on?
A. I was thrilled to be given responsibility for several R&D projects within my first few weeks at Oat Cosmetics. Managing these projects has challenged my technical capabilities in the best way possible, strengthening my chemical understanding and furthering my ability to work in agile manner with new information.
Without a doubt my favourite project to work on has been the further development of aurafirm, a trend-driven fermented oat active initially launched in April 2018. aurafirm has huge potential as a key cosmetic ingredient with so much yet to be discovered about the skin microbiome – a hot topic in the industry right now.
Q. What’s been the highlight of your time here at Oat Cosmetics?
A. The highlight for me has been the opportunity to travel to several exhibitions and conferences around the world, including in-cosmetics Global and The Microbiome & Probiotic Series. Through these events I have been able to learn first-hand about the latest innovations and scientific breakthroughs in the beauty and personal care markets. Of course, working under the guidance of Cara Dewis, Head of Product Development, has also been a delight.
Q. How has your experience with Oat Cosmetics shaped your future career plans?
A. Working at Oat Cosmetics for the last 6 months has confirmed to me that I want to pursue a career in R&D project management working with bio-sourced ingredients. This would preferably be in a small organisation where I can take on such a varied, challenging role as I have had the opportunity to do at Oat Cosmetics. Importantly, my time here has also shown me that it is possible to find a stimulating R&D career, in which I can utilise and develop my technical capabilities, outside of a lab-based environment.
Here at Oat Cosmetics, we’re passionate about supporting promising young professionals and students in the first steps of their career, providing short-term internship opportunities across many departments. If you’re interested in working with us, please enquire about our vacancies here.
