Her Story
About Jennessa
Jennessa Anderson serves as General Manager of America's Best in Erie, Pennsylvania. She has nearly six years of experience in optical retail, including three years as assistant manager, after beginning her career at Eyeglass World, which is owned by the same company. Anderson excels in customer service by ensuring clients are happy and well-educated on products, while managing staff to reach sales goals and maintaining smooth store operations. She holds a Level 3 Optical Technician Certification. Anderson graduated from high school in 2019 and attended one semester of college studying art therapy before leaving for financial reasons. She entered the field after an eye exam visit when Dr. Julie Lilly noticed her personality and offered an interview, leading to hands-on learning and advancement. Anderson values honesty, dedication, and determination, drawing inspiration from positive customer experiences and advice from mentor Kate Galla on troubleshooting and learning from mistakes.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jennessa
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute it to the doctor who seeked me in the first place, Dr. Julie Lilly. She's the whole reason I'm in this company in the first place. She's the one who saw me, liked my personality, and asked for an interview. And then what makes me do what I do is just more of, I mean, the customers, honestly, I've experienced so many good experiences with customers, I just... More of a... Inspires me to do more for them, to make sure that every customer that comes in is happy.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice, I would just say, is one is by the general manager who kind of trained me, which was, Kate Galla. She always told me to, you know, basically use my head, try to troubleshoot and, you know, if she needs... there's basically nothing that I can do that can't be undone. So, learning and striving for, you know, mistakes are okay, basically.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say, you know, Keep your head up, you know, it's okay to make mistakes, but as long as you Continue the determination of learning and... and... striving for... better... more information... or I want to say education, but, like, more information on the field, it goes a long way. So just showing determination goes a long way.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say... is... people assuming that it's an easy job, so people, you know, when I have staff who join on, and they realize it is more than what they thought, and so they end up leaving. So, you know, staffing can be really hard in that aspect. ... More of, like, the, just kind of, like, regular... hurdles. There's always so many. I mean, a lot of it is, like, technical issues. ... we do have patients who come in and, you know, they say they can't see out of their glasses. ... it's a matter of what, how is the troubleshooting being done to fix that issue.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Values. I would say, you know, honesty and dedication, you know, just showing determination. So, you know, that you're not just coming into work just to punch a punch card and clock out. You want to come in and make a difference.
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