Dentists Dr Lisa & Dr Vanessa Creaven on family, life lessons and working with your sister

Dentists and founders of Spotlight Oral Care

Dr Lisa and Dr Vanessa Creaven, Spotlight Oral Care

Vanessa: I am the youngest of four siblings. All of us are dentists, unusually enough. Our parents weren’t dentists — our mum was a special needs assistant and our dad worked as an engineer with HP, but he also ran the farm. Our parents really worked hard and they instilled that hard work ethic in us.

I've always been a hard worker. I am determined, and I'm very competitive. I've always been that way — even when I try not to be.

Lisa: I think a lot about things. I am very considered in my approach. A lot of times people ask 'is it hard working with your sister?'. We are very, very similar in ways but we have different personalities and different ways of going about things. And it's that blend that's really important. I think that's why we get on so well and work together so well.

My greatest challenge has been having children while also running my own businesses, the dental practice, and Spotlight. Navigating having children, while still working all the time and trying to drive and grow a company... you see a lot of women before they have children, and you see a lot of women when they've had their children, but you don't see a huge amount of women having children and working a lot [at the same time]. That's a challenge. It's been a big challenge for me because family is my priority but work is my passion. Navigating that has been a challenge but it's also my greatest achievement.

Vanessa: As a business, coming through Covid has been a huge achievement for us. Pre Covid, we were 70% or 80% retail. A lot of people say to us they feel like we're a digitally first brand but pre Covid we weren't at all. Being able to pivot and move online is a huge achievement. The launch into the US and being able to maintain and build a team across three regions, Ireland, the UK and the US, are also huge achievements.

Lisa: I’d like to be remembered by those in my life as someone who was kind, listened to people and valued people. To be remembered as a good, honest person.

Vanessa: I’d like to be remembered as being hard-working, fair and honest. I think my greatest quality is that I am very loyal, loyal to a fault. And I am very hardworking.

Lisa: I’d agree with that. I think I am very empathetic, hard-working, and very resilient. 

Honestly, I think anyone who has kids and continues to work and do anything in their life, there is a resiliency there. I am the kind of person who will just get back up and over and over again and keep moving forward.

Vanessa: We are definitely each other's closest confidantes. Lisa is the person I talk to the most. We probably talk mostly about work, but if I ever have questions or concerns about sleep schedules or nursing or whatever she's always the person I go to. I call her my wise one.

Lisa: We are each other's best friends. If I am trying to buy a dress for a wedding or organise something with my kids, I ask Vanessa.

Lisa: The lesson I would like to pass on is ‘how you do one thing is how you do everything'. How you get up in the morning, how you dress your bed, how you approach your day...if you're sloppy, it tends to permeate your life. Approach everything with a do your best attitude. If you see someone who's good at one thing, they're usually good at a lot of things.

Vanessa: The lesson I would like to pass on is to never underestimate the ability of hard work. I find that if you're a really hard worker, you will be successful at most things. You never need to be the smartest person in the room to achieve in business. I've seen through mentors and even in team members that have been really successful for us, if you're hard-working and you're resilient, it goes an awfully long way — far further than education or intelligence.

Lisa: The best piece of advice I’ve ever gotten is to drink life to the dregs, I don't know who said it, but it's stuck with me. Sometimes you can overthink things, just have the baby, take the job, sign up for the marathon, just do it because one day you'll be dead.

Vanessa: I'm always pleasantly surprised by people's generosity and their willingness to help others, I think as Irish people we are very good at helping.

Lisa: I'm amazed by the resilience of some people and how they face huge challenges in their personal lives and keep moving forward. I think work is one thing, but people face the biggest challenges in their personal situations and I’m amazed by how some people come through certain things with such resilience and positivity.

Vanessa: The only thing that really frightens me is the health of my family and my close friends. There's so much you can get through in life, if Spotlight closed tomorrow, we went into financial ruin, whatever it was, I think you can recover from a lot, but serious health issues with your family or kids, that’s what scares me.

Lisa: That’s what happens when you have kids. You just think, ‘oh god what if anything ever happens...’ 

Vanessa: Yeah, everything else can be fixed.

• Dr Lisa and Dr Vanessa Creaven are the founders of Galway-based dental care brand Spotlight Oral Care. spotlightoralcare.com