 She began her professional music career as a member of the Scottish sextet Dòchas which included Shetland fiddle player Jenna Reid.The group formed while four of its members were students at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and Fowlis was a student at nearby University of Strathclyde.Billed as "a young and dynamic all-female band playing traditional music from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and Ireland," the band released its first album in 2002.