Her Story
About Vanessa
I've been working as an optician for almost 14 years now, and honestly, I kind of stumbled into this field. When I was 20, I went to a temp agency wanting to get out of retail and restaurants where I'd been working since I was 14. I applied for a receptionist position, but when I showed up for the interview, they asked how I felt about potentially touching people's eyes. I said sure, I'm down, and I was thrown right into technician and opticianry work. I never did become just a receptionist, though I can do that task now. What I discovered is that I love opticianry - helping people pick out glasses, learning about all the different lenses, and helping people see better. My first office really taught me the core of what I know in the industry because they had a thorough training process and a great optical manager who taught us along the way. I've worked at four different offices total throughout my career, including a stint doing surgery coordination at an ophthalmologist's office where I learned a lot about cataract surgery and other eye surgeries. I earned my American Board of Opticianry certification early in my career and have continued to keep up the continuing education for that certification this whole time, even though California doesn't require licensing for private practice work. Currently, I work at the only optometrist's office in our small town. My typical duties include helping patients after their eye exams to pick out glasses, educating them on their different lens options, and placing orders through our practice management program and lab websites. But I do so much more than that - I manage the frame inventory for the office, cover when people are out as receptionist or technician, handle the billing, and train new staff. I'm training a new optician right now who's been there just shy of a year. I would say I'm not just an optician - I'm kind of the glue that holds it all together. I'm currently in the process of talking to my boss about taking on a title that holds a little more authority, because I'm already doing that work and I want to feel acknowledged and compensated accordingly. After 14 years in this field, I still learn something new probably once a week, whether it's a different lens combination or a new eye condition. That's what keeps it interesting.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Vanessa
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received came from my first optical manager when I was just starting out and feeling completely overwhelmed by all the medical terminology and new concepts. I went to her saying I didn't know if I could do this, and she told me 'it'll click, you just have to be patient, and you're constantly learning.' That advice has stayed with me throughout my entire career. She was absolutely right. I'm 14 years in now and I still learn something new probably once a week, whether it's a different lens combination or a new eye condition I didn't know about. Knowing that learning never stops and being patient with myself through that process has been key to my success and longevity in this field.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The terminology and such can kind of feel like a lot at first. I encourage people to keep a page of the key terms that get used a lot and what they mean, so that you can have that with you. That way you're not feeling overwhelmed just trying to remember terms, so you can learn the order of operations without getting hung up on the terminology, at least in the beginning. But then you need to have that excitement, and by having that excitement, especially when you're styling someone in a frame, you're gonna have much more successful frame selection. The patient may choose to buy because you were so excited, and it excited them. Education is also a big thing I've been trying to focus more on lately. We all fall into our little routines or phrases we use when we're presenting stuff to patients, and one of the things I've been trying to make sure that I'm doing is not just talking about the features that the patients can choose from, but the why of the features - the benefit of that. So making sure to go feature, benefit, feature, benefit, because otherwise they're gonna be like, okay, that's a titanium frame, great. What does that mean? So just being patient with yourself, learning the terminology, and all those lens options that there are, because there's a lot.
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