Each week we shine the spotlight on a member of Dorset’s business community and ask him, or her, for answers to our part fun/part serious questionnaire. This time…

Her favourite place in Dorset is Sandbanks, the first cut of grass in spring is her favourite smell, she looks for employees who believe in the company mission and chooses broth as her favourite food or dish. Now there’s a surprise…!

Rachel Down, Founder, Boil and Broth, takes the 20 Questions’ hotseat. 

Question: What is your favourite TV show?

Answer: You’ll probably think I am strange, but I love Ghost Adventures. I’m very interested in the world of the unknown.

Q: Who would you like to share a car with?

A: Dr Josh Axe. I love his alternative approach to health.

Q: The best bit of my job is…?

A: Having amazing feedback from my customers about how the products I have created, and the information I share, has helped them along their health journey.

Q: And the worst…?

A: Dealing with DPD.

Q: Who was your childhood hero?

A: Kylie Minogue (don’t judge me haha!).

Q: What’s your favourite smell?

A: The first cut of grass in the Spring.

Q: Where’s your favourite place in Dorset?

A: Sandbanks.

Q: What advice would you give to anyone starting out on a career?

A: Be patient! Learning patience is probably the most empowering skill to have. It’s how I have grown my business and my career. Having children helps make you patient.

Q: What was your first record/CD?

A: Madonna: The Immaculate Collection.

Q: What gets you angry?

A: Nothing, I have no anger.

Q: Do you have a favourite piece of music?

A: Tchaikovsky: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Q: What are the qualities you look for in a new employee?

A: Believing in the company mission. I feel it’s so important to recruit staff who share similar beliefs. Everyone can be trained, so having common ground is the most important.

Q: What’s your favourite food or dish?

A: Broth – of course!

Q: Steamed sponge pudding and custard or a plate of melon?

A: Steamed sponge pudding and custard (homemade of course).

Q: Name the best thing about living/working in Dorset?

A: I love that we have the best of all worlds in Dorset. I feel very fortunate to live and work in such a great place in the UK. We have beaches, green lands, forests, and so much more on our doorstep.

Q: If you were Prime Minister for the day what would be the first thing you do?

A: Aside from sacking 90 per cent of all the politicians, I would release a new programme to help people on low-income wages access healthy foods by introducing a healthy food voucher scheme. The scheme would be put in place to reduce the amount of prescription drugs prescribed for many conditions related to poor diet.

Q: What’s your biggest frustration?

A: That many GPs, and NHS dieticians, are not educated about new science, especially food science and nutrition for health. This is one of the major reasons so many people in the UK are unnecessarily reliant on prescription drugs. The culture must change to help create a better future of long-term health for our next generations.

Q:  Where’s your favourite holiday location?

A: Sunshine Coast in Australia.

Q: Where do you see yourself in ten years’ time?

A: UK Health Minister.

Q: What would you like to be remembered for?

A: For helping to make a change within the NHS to embrace holistic health, looking at the person as a whole including emotional, psychological, nutritional and physical health. And to stop the big pharmaceutical companies having so much control over individual health. Big pharma is profiting from the illness of people all over the world. The system is set up for people with illness to be prescribed drugs to treat symptoms, but the cause of illness is never addressed. For improvements to happen to long-term health, then our health professionals need to be educated about cause – reaction.