Her Story
About Jeannine
Jeannine Bader brings over 15 years of sales experience to her current role in the optical industry, where she has worked for roughly 6 years at Essilor Luxottica. In this position, she partners with doctors to understand their practice needs, provides training on lens designs and products, and uses metrics and dashboards to help teams reach business goals through consultative, value-based approaches. Her career path began in education enrollment at Primrose Schools, moved to account representative and management roles at U.S. Foods in food distribution, included a brief stint at a frame company, and led to her current focus on customer service-oriented sales. She holds a biology education but attributes her professional growth primarily to on-the-job experience and advice from her mother emphasizing customer service. Bader is a member of the Essilor Luxottica Women's Alliance and attributes her success to genuinely caring about people, maintaining integrity, following through on commitments, and keeping the customer at the center of her work rather than focusing on herself. She advises young women entering the field to show up consistently, make industry connections, do the hard work, and keep their personal why at the forefront.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jeannine
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think just caring about people, honestly. It's not about putting myself first. In a world where we're constantly about me, me, me, now, now, now, I don't make it about me. The customer is what drives me. I push urgency because they need it for their business, not a multi-billion dollar corporation. It's that human touch.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Customer service is key at everything that you do. If you help enough people get what they need, you'll have everything that you need. Listen a lot, care enough to help them get what they want, and it's not about me and what I have to offer.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Just showing up. Making connections within the industry. Doing the hard work, taking yourself out of that comfort zone. Start every day with what my why is. Continue to show up. Keeping your why really in the forefront of what you do, and realize that at the end of the day it pays off.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is lack of patient or consumer education. People don't see the value in lens designs or options and go to places like Warby Parker or Costco. The opportunity is to get in front of doctors and staff to have open conversations with patients to understand the value of what they offer, leading to better education.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Working with integrity, following through on what you say you're going to do, being honest, doing the right thing, acting with integrity, and working smart. Having the hard conversations builds rapport and respect.
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