After years working in criminal and human rights law, Roshanne Dorsett reached a point where the pressure of a demanding legal career began to affect both her wellbeing and her skin. What started as stress developed into burnout, exhaustion, acne, hyperpigmentation and dullness, and ultimately became part of the inspiration behind her skincare brand, The Glowcery.
In this interview, Roshanne talks about the realities of burnout, the pressure Black women can face in high-achieving careers, why she believes the beauty industry often focuses too heavily on symptoms, and how her own experience shaped a more nutrient-focused approach to caring for stressed and reactive skin.
You spent years working in criminal and human rights law; what initially drew you to that world, and what did you love about it at the start?
Growing up I was obsessed with the TV shows such as Bad Girls and The Bill, that’s where my interest in the criminal justice system and the psychology of criminals really began.
Studying LLB Law with Criminology at Keele University felt like the natural way to combine those interests. After I secured my city job, I loved how challenging it was, I was working on over 250 Joint Enterprise Murder cases following the Court of Appeal’s landmark ruling on R v Jogee and it was genuinely exciting to be part of something that significant.
Burnout is often talked about in abstract terms. What did it actually look and feel like for you day to day?
For me it was a slow breakdown rather than a sudden collapse. It started as stress, and when I reached out to senior management for support with the case load and the heightened emotions, instead of solutions I was told that I didn’t know what stress was.
In that moment, I felt completely crushed. Over time, the stress kept building, the expectations kept growing, and I started to lose the excitement that I initially had to go into the office. Eventually, the burnout showed up in my body as exhaustion and on my skin as hyperpigmentation, acne and dullness.
You’ve said burnout started showing up on your skin. What were the first signs that something wasn’t right?
My skin started to look exactly how I felt: stressed and depleted. The brightness I’d always had looked flat and dull, the hormonal acne from the stress was constant, and the post-inflammatory marks led to hyperpigmentation. I looked a mess!
Do you think there’s a particular cultural pressure placed on Black women to succeed in high-achieving careers, and did you feel that in your own journey?
I’ve always backed myself going into a working environment, as I know I have the skills, education and ability to perform it well. But what I experienced, and what I think many Black women experience, is the flip side of that.
When the pressure gets too much, where is the support? When the once smiley, engaged colleague slowly becomes withdrawn and despondent, rather than looking at it through a holistic lens, there are questions about your attitude and work ethic instead of someone recognising that something deeper must be going on.
What do you think the beauty industry gets wrong when it comes to treating stressed or reactive skin?
In my opinion, the traditionally beauty industry sells solutions to symptoms rather than addressing causes. Sensitive skin? Here’s a soothing serum. Dullness? Here’s a brightening acid. Breakouts? Here’s a targeted treatment. None of that gets to the root of why skin becomes stressed in the first place, which is almost always a combination of stress, barrier depletion and nutrient-poor products, all of which are driven by how we’re living.
The other thing the industry gets wrong is assuming more is better. More actives, more steps, more products. Depleted skin doesn’t need more. Just like your body when it’s burnt out – your skin needs nutrients it can actually absorb, and it needs rest.
That’s the entire premise of The Glowcery; we make nutrient dense skincare for skin that depleted, stressed and overdue a reset. That’s why this year, The Glowcery is launching a new skincare product that targets the root causes of stressed, acne prone and reactive skin. It’s been in development for over two years and I’m really excited to get it out there. It’s going to help a lot of women feel more confident and relaxed in their natural skin.
You follow a vegan lifestyle. What led you to that decision, and how does it tie into your approach to skin and wellbeing?
One weekend, I binged watched all the vegan documentaries on Netflix from Forks over Knives, to What The Health, to Cowspiracy and decided to try out veganism. I was already vegetarian at that point, so it was a gradual dietary change rather than a single moment of decision.
For me veganism isn’t a restriction, it’s choosing to live consistently with the values I hold about my health, animals and the environment. And it absolutely informs how I formulate. I’m interested in plant-based nutrition that works because of what it contains, not despite how it was sourced.
The philosophy of The Glowcery – feeding your skin rather than treating it – is in many ways an extension of how I think about the way I nourish myself.
Are there any challenges you’ve faced as a vegan when it comes to skin health?
The honest answer is that the transition required thorough research in the beauty aisles, as a lot of products contain animal-by products from lanolin, beeswax and collagen.
When you remove animal products you have to be intentional about certain nutrients – omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, zinc, vitamin D – all of which have a direct relationship with skin health.
I became really fascinated by the food-skin connection, and it fed directly into The Glowcery’s formulation philosophy. In many ways, navigating veganism is what taught me to think about skin from a nutritional lens rather than just a topical one.
Now, I use fewer but more effective products rather than an extensive 10-step skincare routine. My routine consists of The Glowcery Blue Dew Fruit Enzyme Cleanser, which doubles as a 2-in-1 oil to milk cleanser; it’s so good at cleansing my skin but still leaving it feeling moisturised. Next, I tone with Sable Labs Black Seed Toner, then I moisturise with Nursem Barrier Skin Fix Cream, which is so creamy I love the texture. Afterwards, whilst my skin is still a little damp from the toner, I lock it all in with The Glowcery Clean Greens Face Oil, which is like a green juice for your skin. My last step is Green People UK Natural SPF 30. I wear SPF every day and so should you!
Beyond leaving law, what are the biggest changes you’ve made in your life that have had the most impact on your mental wellbeing?
Building, and sticking to a morning routine has been a game changer! Whenever I would hear successful entrepreneurs such as Emma Grede, Grace Beverely and my corporate friends talk about morning routines, I never took them seriously, until I created one for myself. Now, I wake up at around 5.30am every day, meditate, journal, visualise and pray.
I noticed the difference after 3 months of consistently doing this. I wake up feeling a lot calmer, in control and regulated, this has not only had a positive impact on my creativity, but my enthusiasm and overall mental wellbeing.
For career-driven women who feel like they’re on the edge of burnout but aren’t sure what to do, what would you say to them?
Trust what your body is telling you before it has to start screaming at you to stop. The signs are always there before the collapse: the sleep that never feels deep enough, the joy that’s gone flat, the stressed skin signals.
Most high-achieving women I know are extremely good at masking those signals because they’ve been rewarded their whole lives for doing exactly that. But you are not a machine, and eventually the stress will catch up. You don’t have to wait for that.
The other thing I’d say is that the answer isn’t always to leave. Sometimes it’s boundaries, sometimes it’s support, sometimes it’s a genuine conversation about what you actually want your life to look like.
What I do know is that staying silent and pushing through is almost never the answer, and your skin – of all things – will probably tell you that before anything else does. Just like your body does when it’s feeling burnout, your stressed skin deserves a sabbatical too.
You’ve stepped out of one high-pressure environment into building your own business. Do you ever worry about burning out again?
Yes, and I think that’s the honest and healthy answer. Anyone who says they’ve solved burnout permanently is not being totally honest with themselves. There’s no work life balance when it comes to building a business – something always has to give. I am always thinking about The Glowcery – there are no days off.
What’s different now, though, is awareness. I know my signals, I know when I’m running on adrenaline rather than aligned energy, when I’m doing too much out of fear of not doing enough, and most importantly when I need to stop.
Building The Glowcery has taught me that rest is not the enemy of ambition, it’s the necessary pit stop that makes this long, challenging, but exciting journey a lot more sustainable.
