Christy Ruiz-Castañeda, RPhT, M.S.
(BSRPT ’08)

For Christy Ruiz-Castañeda, RPhT, M.S. (BSRPT ’08), hospitality has always centered around delivering excellence and memorable experiences. Working with some of Florida’s top hospitality employers, including the South Beach Food & Wine Festival®, Marriott International and The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, helped refine and shape her approach to providing client-centered care. So when Ruiz-Castañeda and her husband, Norman, decided to open a compounding pharmacy in Naples, she saw this as an opportunity to bring hospitality front and center to the healthcare field.

“We never let a patient walk out our door without a solution – whether you offer a solution or point them to a person with a solution,” she said.

Ruiz-Castañeda’s humble beginnings in hospitality started at the UF College of Health & Human Performance in 2004. Coming from a family of doctors, Ruiz-Castañeda initially set her sights on the medical field but realized early on that the track wasn’t for her. After exploring other programs at the university, she learned about the Department of Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management at the end of her freshman year.

“I loved the interactions in class and still keep in touch with friends from the college,” she said.

Upon graduating in 2008, Ruiz-Castañeda accepted a role with the J.W. Marriott on Miami’s popular Brickell Avenue but was impacted by the Great Recession. From there, she continued her education at Florida International University and earned her master’s degree in hospitality management while interning with several of South Florida’s hospitality employers, including the South Beach Food & Wine Festival® and The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach.

After her husband accepted a role at a large pharmacy employer in Naples, she transferred to The Ritz-Carlton, Naples properties where she worked upwards of 60 to 70 hours a week planning, designing and bringing special events to life.

In summer of 2019, Ruiz-Castañeda and her husband welcomed their third child. Around this time, her husband mentioned the idea of opening an independently operated pharmacy. Ruiz-Castañeda looked at her career in the long term and the potential impact she and her husband could make in the lives of others by providing high-quality, patient-centered care.

Ruiz-Castañeda and her husband couldn’t help but notice that pharmacists were becoming more focused on meeting daily quotas and less focused on building relationships with patients to understand their health needs better. 

“Pharmacists are overworked and exhausted,” she said.

As COVID-19 entered the picture, plans for the pharmacy’s construction slowed with delay after delay. Nevertheless, they persevered with their plans, with Ruiz-Castañeda using her planning, logistics and organization skills from her time spent in hospitality.

Since opening Uptown Chemist in March 2021, Ruiz-Castañeda, the pharmacy’s marketing manager and patient relations, has played a critical role in training her team to excel in communications and anticipating the patient’s needs.

“At The Ritz-Carlton, you are trained to anticipate their [the client’s] needs,” Ruiz-Castañeda said. “You must know how to train and deliver to the right people. At the pharmacy, we set the expectations that everything is handmade and we’ll take the time you deserve to care for you.”

In reflecting on her experience and what she recommends for students entering the hospitality space, Ruiz-Castañeda is a proponent of students gaining hands-on experience to understand the importance of delivering excellence to customers. “Our patients are coming to us because they trust us,” she said. “That goes away with one mistake.”

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