Bonjour!
My name is Marie Drago, I’m a Doctor in Pharmacy and the founder of Gallinée. Let me tell you 5 things about me and how I came to create Gallinée.
- BG (Before Gallinée). I trained as a Pharmacist in France and moved to Dublin then to London after completion of my studies. I was lucky enough to get to work for some great beauty brands, travelling the world and attend launches in Singapore, Russia, the US… I have always worked in the beauty industry and don’t see myself doing anything else. I am dragging along the strongest French accent you’ve ever heard…
- Obligatory sob story. Actually not really, as it turned out to be a big opportunity: 10 years ago, I was diagnosed with a gross disease called pyoderma gangrenosum. Just trust me and don’t look it up on Google image. It is a skin inflammation caused by an auto-immune reaction. Because it was so weird and rare, I got really interested in the root cause: the microbiome. I have been able to manage this condition with a pro and prebiotic diet, and the only remnant is my very reactive skin. Which gave me the BIG IDEA. If you can manage inflammation by eating pre and probiotics, what happens to skin inflammation if you apply topical pre and probiotics? I went back to University, passed my thesis on skin probiotics, patented the thesis and used it to create Gallinée formulations. Take that pyoderma!
- Nerd for life. I love science! I love to listen to it, and I spend as much time as possible attending science congresses. It allows me to ask all the stupid questions to the clever people, research in the lab and create innovations that made Gallinée famous. I listen to science podcasts, follow science illustrators, fangirl science influencers… Microbiome science is especially exciting as it’s so new and progresses so fast. We are able to bring solutions to problems we thought were incurable! A word to the wise: As soon as I’ve had a glass of wine, I will talk your ears off with pub quiz knowledge about bacteria. You’ve been warned.
- French Pharmacie forever. As I got so early in the microbiome world, I am fortunate enough to know the best people and have access to the best ingredients, science, tests and knowledge. As a Pharmacist, I am obsessed with product efficacy and safety. We test our products more than any other brand. That’s why I think Gallinée products are so special: cutting edge science coupled with products proven to work. Giving you soothed, protected and glowing skin in a wink.
- I love Top Fives! You will see there’s loads of them in our blog, the Microbiome Académie.
My top 5 of top 5s ? Ok, if you insist:5 ways to care for your oral microbiome
5 tips against Atopic Eczema
5 travel essentials
5 cool things we learned at the Skin Microbiome congress
5 steps to care for your skin barrier
Marie,
And if you want to know a bit more:
Diplomas and certifications:
– Doctorate of Pharmacy, University Paris-Saclay, 2002
– Gut Check, Exploring Your Microbiome, University of Colorado Boulder / UC San Diego (short course)
– Designing Effective Science Communication, University of Colorado Boulder (short course)
– Nutrition and Mental Health, University of Canterbury NZ (short course)
Congress lectures coming up:
– European Skin Microbiome Congress 2021
– Innocos 2021
– Microbiome Connect USA 2021
– Skin Microbiome Industry summit 2022
