Team Category: Ambassadors
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I am an artisan Perfumer situated in our 500-year-old Walled Garden, The Wye Valley, Wales.
I was born and raised in Pembrokeshire where my love of perfumery started when I was eight years old at my Grandmother’s dressing table smelling her many bottles of perfumes. I relocated to Cardiff in the late 1990’s to embark in a career for one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world as a Professional Relations Manager in R&D and also consumer healthcare, I was involved in many projects that included loss of smell and taste, award winning and thriving, its where I developed my love of the science behind Perfumery.
Over many years my love for Perfumery developed and my studies took me to Paris, Italy & London before starting Wales Perfumery in 2017. Over the past few years, I have increasingly become aware of people’s loss of sense of smell and the challenges that this brings.
I am very passionate about smell and I am delighted to have become an ambassador for Fifth Sense.
I am Carl Hughes (Insta @mr_smell_loss) and I suffer from Acquired Anosmia following a Traumatic Brain Injury.
I am an Emergency Services worker and First Aid trainer which both gives me the wonderful opportunity to spread the word. In November 2021, I had the pleasure to share my story at the Fifth Sense National Conference, and look forward to being able to do this many times over to further educate and help people understand what it means to be Anosmic and how it can affect the professional and personal life in equal measure.
My aim is for the response to my statement “I am Anosmic” that people reply with ” I have heard of that, how are you?” rather than “What is that?“. We can do this by working together and explain it to one new person every day.
I am a wine expert with over 25 years wine trade experience beginning in 1996 at Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in Bordeaux, France. I am a Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers and a Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Certified Educator and Approved Programme Provider teaching online and classroom wine and spirits courses.
I provide drinks consultation for UK hospitality venues, offering drinks training to sommeliers and front-of-house staff as well as creating bespoke wine lists for hotels and restaurants in the South West of England.
Most recently I was Head Sommelier at 2* Michelin Gidleigh Park Hotel – Relais & Chateaux on Dartmoor, in Devon working alongside former executive head chef Michael Wignall. I had the privilege of managing one of the most extensive wine cellars in the country with over 800 wines and a 52 page wine list, selecting wine pairings for ten course taster menus.
My passion lies in teaching WSET wine and spirits qualifications and I specialise in educating people on how to develop their senses, especially their sense of sight, smell and taste to appreciate and assess the quality of wine. I equip them with a wide vocabulary to enable them to describe the drinks that they sample.
I judge for various international wine competitions and am a monthly drinks columnist for Devon Life magazine, writing about local and international wines, beers, ciders, spirits and soft drinks. As someone with a huge passion for the importance of smell and taste I am delighted to be an ambassador for Fifth Sense, helping to raise awareness about the importance of smell and taste and the impact a life without them can have on people.
My name is Josie Wratten and I have congenital anosmia as a symptom of having Kallmann Syndrome (a hormone and smell disorder). I was born and raised in Yorkshire, England but have spent the past 20 years living in the US, in San Francisco and currently in the foothills of Boulder, Colorado.
Growing up I assumed I had a weak sense of smell as I could ‘sense’ certain things like mint and ammonia. It wasn’t until I was diagnosed with Kallmann Syndrome at 19 that I learned these were not necessarily ‘smells’ but part of a reflex reaction in the brain, and also vapors landing on my tongue that I was tasting.
Born without one sense has, perhaps unconsciously, led me to careers focusing on my other senses, working as an architectural lighting designer and currently as a voice over artist.
I’m so happy to have found Fifth Sense and be part of this community to support fellow anosmics and bring awareness to these disorders that are greatly needed.
My name is Aisha Hamzah and I have worked as a paediatric children’s nurse at Birmingham Children’s Hospital for the past 13 years.
Last year I became the Ear Nose and Throat Nurse specialist for the Trust.
Until recently Anosmia was a term that I had never come across before. Working with Fifth Sense has highlighted the importance of smell and taste to children in a way that is different to adults – my focus is to look at it from a child and parents’ point of view.
I am currently working on setting up a smell clinic at Birmingham Childrens Hospital, which will be the first nurse led children’s ENT clinic in the West Midlands.
Hi everyone, my name is Chessie Horwood and I have congenital anosmia. I was diagnosed at 16, (so quite late!) and had a pretty tough time getting my condition recognised.
I came across Fifth Sense when trying to find out what anosmia was, as at the time it was incredibly overwhelming but I ended up finding a whole community!
My aim is to help young people with any type of smell or taste disorder, from trying to get a diagnosis to offering support and guidance however they are affected.
I would also like to help people who support a loved one, friend or colleague who have a smell/taste disorder as they often feel helpless and there is so much they can do!
Hi guys, I’m Charlie and I don’t have a sense of smell. You may recognise me (and that intro) from my TikTok, @SmellYouNever. I am a congenital anosmic from the UK who makes TikTok videos about anosmia.
I started making videos in June 2020 and chose to talk about anosmia because it has always been my fun fact, and no one seemed to know about it. I very quickly found out that I wasn’t the only person in the world with anosmia (silly I know, but you do start to believe you are the only one).
This made me realise that so many people with anosmia, particularly congenital anosmia, go through life thinking they are alone.I want to create a community so that no one with anosmia feels like they are alone. I also want to raise awareness so that “smellers” stop thinking we are liars, and are no longer surprised that anosmia exists.
I was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Scottish parents, my professional life has centred around interior design, architecture and fine dining. Life was good; I had a chef-hatted restaurant, overseas food and wine tours to Italy, and renovation plans for my dream home.
Then in late 2017, I fell seriously ill with pneumonia and a ‘mystery’ virus. I was hospitalised in isolation for two weeks, and although I ‘recovered’, my sense of smell, it seems, was gone forever.
I found the Fifth Sense after trawling the internet for the ‘answers’ I wasn’t getting from health professionals here in Australia. I’m excited to be an Ambassador for Fifth Sense to be able to educate more of the population about anosmia so we can encourage research and develop empathy for our condition, from both medical practitioners and the general public.
My name is Yazmin Salazar, I live in Arizona in the United States, you may know me as the blogger The “Girl Who Can’t Smell” and I have congenital anosmia. I first realised I couldn’t smell when I was in 2nd grade (about 7 years old)
As the only anosmic member of my family, I grew up believing I was the only person in the world affected by this condition. What I think is pretty neat about being anosmic, is that I am immune to bad smells (there are many instances where my anosmia is my superpower!) But, I know I am also at risk when it comes to my own safety (gas leaks, spoiled food and fires).
As a blogger, I write about my personal experience and love sharing what “nobody nose about anosmia”. I became a Fifth Sense Ambassador to work together with other people like me across the world to continue to raise awareness and educate people about smell disorders.
Through my personal stories, webcomic, and memes (which feature funny and embarrassing moments) I convey what life without a sense of smell is like and hope to inspire you to also share yours.
My name is Sharika Bivins and I have acquired anosmia. I write my blog My Anosmatic Life and am based Virginia, USA. I lost my sense of smell over 13 years ago while in college as a result of Chronic Rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.
I have experienced many challenges in accessing treatments and in the lack of information available for patients. This has led me on a mission to raise more awareness about this invisible disability, share my story and experiences and to work with others as a Fifth Sense Ambassador to ensure the sense of smell is given the same credibility as the other senses.