Charlotte Faragher is proof that funeral directors are no longer the preserve of a previously male-dominated profession.
The 22-year-old is the third generation of funeral directors within her family.
She works alongside her father Ken Faragher who in turn took over from his father Eric Faragher.
She has just scooped the National Association of Funeral Directors Diploma in Funeral Arranging and Administration and firmly sees her career future with Eric Faragher Ltd.
Speaking from the business based in Main Road, Onchan, Charlotte said she felt very proud to have achieved the qualification.
Charlotte told Business News that the business generally used to be ‘predominantly a male profession in the past but things are definitely changing.’
And her father Ken backed this point up by pointing out that when he went to see Charlotte pick up her diploma in Birmingham there were many other women there.
He said that the profession generally may have been ‘slow to accept change’ in the past but this was not the case now.
Mr Faragher, 58, said he was impressed with her work saying she has a ‘natural affinity and ability’ to work closely with families while handling sensitive funeral arrangements.
Charlotte first went to Onchan school and then Ballakermeen High School. She started a course at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University but left to start a job at Skandia in the island.
But she eventually left there before starting to work part time at Eric Faragher Ltd. She also fitted this in with her studies to become a funeral director and attended monthly visits to Liverpool as part of her intensive studies.
She now sees this as her true vocation and her father is delighted.
She said: ‘To be honest I get a lot of job satisfaction from my job and I fully intend to carry on with my career here.’
She told Business News that the very nature of being a funeral director means there is a lot more involved in the job than just reading books and studying.
‘In this profession you cannot have any preconceived ideas, no two families are the same. You have to do a lot of thinking on your feet.’
Mr Faragher said he was very proud of Charlotte who has an elder sister Sam who teaches at Ashley Hill School.
His late father founded the business in 1949.
Charlotte spoke to Business News shortly before embarking on a six month holiday of a lifetime backpacking around the world with her partner Oliver Creasey.
But when she returns to work, during TT fortnight, she will resume her career.
Indeed her father said Charlotte was ‘ultimately the future of the company’ although he stressed he definitely has no plans to step down just now.
The business also has several full and part time staff and Mr Faragher estimated that since 1949 the company had dealt with more than 10,000 funerals.