Daily Inspiration: Meet Yousra Bouzaghar

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yousra Bouzaghar.

Hi Yousra, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve wanted to play piano since elementary school. After begging my parents for lessons, I finally sat down with my piano teacher, Mrs. Tissiere, for my first lesson. I was eleven years old and couldn’t believe how much joy could come from playing an instrument.

Going into my undergraduate studies at Meredith College, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in pharmacy. I double-majored in biology and chemistry and found it difficult to balance piano lessons with my heavy course load. I often found myself rushing to complete my assigned pieces right before my next piano lesson. As such, I decided to stop taking piano lessons in the summer of 2016. It was a difficult yet necessary decision to make. I was able to focus on my classes, studying for the PCAT, and on pharmacy school applications.Through it all, I tried to keep up with practicing piano and building my repertoire. I had just begun posting piano videos to my Instagram and was savoring the kind words of encouragement from the online music community.

I began pharmacy school at The University of North Carolina in fall of 2018. It was even more difficult to balance piano with pharmacy school curriculum but I found a way to make it work. Posting videos on Instagram was truly what kept me going. It was both a way for me to keep track of the pieces I’d learned and a way for me to connect with the Instagram music community.

I’m now in my fourth year of pharmacy school and am still posting piano videos to Instagram in my free time. I am grateful to have found a way to balance my love of both science and music.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’ve had many bumps along the way. When I decided to stop taking piano lessons, I told myself I’d be my own piano teacher. I was consistent at first, practicing regularly and sticking to my routine. But things went downhill quickly. Months would pass without me even touching the piano. I had a wakeup call during a winter break: I found a piano in a coffee shop, sat down to play, and realized that I didn’t have much to play. The first thing I did when I got home that night was sit at my piano and run through scales. I was back!

I’ve now found a way to be my own piano teacher. It’s working thus far but I’d love to take lessons again when the time is right.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m currently in my fourth and final year of pharmacy school. The didactic portion is complete and I’m on clinical rotations at a different site each month. I’ve had two rotations thus far: one at a psychiatric hospital and another in a neonatal intensive care unit. Fourth year is probably my favorite part of pharmacy school. I get to apply all that I’ve learned in my first three years. There are many different career options within pharmacy and I love gaining exposure to as many as I can.

I’m most proud of being able to balance various projects and tasks on my rotations. For example, at my psychiatric hospital rotation, I worked up and rounded on patients every day, prepared case presentations, reviewed primary literature for journal clubs, and completed multiple projects. One such project was a formulary review on a pharmacologic class of medications. I reviewed the research on all the medications in that drug class and weighed the pros and cons of adding the medications to the hospital’s formulary. My review and final recommendation was presented at the hospital’s Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee meeting.

Managing these projects has improved my time management skills tremendously and has ultimately enhanced the quality and consistency of my piano practice sessions!

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Perseverance! I’ve experienced many overwhelming moments when I felt that I was way in over my head with managing piano practice and my academics. These moments made me want to quit piano completely but I never dared. I’m thankful to have kept going. From experience, I’ve learned that I’m at my best when I get up from a setback and keep pushing through.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yousrabouzaghar/