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Sandbox Stories are delivered to the eye care industry by Dr. Scott Jens, whose career as a Doctor of Optometry, then Software Founder/CEO, has led him to create "The Sandbox" - a playful, thoughtful executive business coaching service. Through Sandbox Stories, Dr. Jens aims to give anyone involved in eye care a provocative, insightful review of perspectives of, and people in, the industry.
Episodes
Wednesday Jan 29, 2025
Wednesday Jan 29, 2025
Scott Harris Shapiro is a leader in the US optical business, as owner and CEO of Europa Eyewear. His parents started the business, which his father spoke of as a “people business,” and grew it from the ground up. Scott has a history of being in the public eye - spending time in his early years as a stand-up comedian and radio personality, from which he learned business insights that he still uses today. Ultimately his father’s passing brought him back to lead the family business, in which he partnered with his father’s long-time associate and best friend. This includes the work they did to begin to manufacture eyewear right here in the United States, which is highly unique in the frame industry. These stories and more are incredibly heart-warming and make this interview an instant classic.
The Stories within the Story include:
0:52 The Europa Eyewear Story
3:48 The Growing Years Story
5:39 The Stand-up Comedian Story
11:07 The Life-Changing Event Story
14:30 The Return to the Business Story
16:43 The Business Diversification Story
20:21 The Family Business Continues Story
24:20 The Family Story
27:26 The Relationships in Optical Story
31:02 The Vision Council Volunteering Story
34:53 The Great Advice Story
Tuesday Dec 17, 2024
Tuesday Dec 17, 2024
Dr. Sherrol Reynolds is full professor at NOVA Southeastern University College of Optometry. Her perspective about the power of mentorship and its influence on her, and how she now mentors others, is powerful. Her family emigrated from Jamaica and she grew up in Florida, where she considered becoming a physician but turned toward Optometry partly due to vision loss that hit her aunt. She is past president of the National Optometric Association and shares insights about the value of that organization to the profession. She is passionate about retinal care and education, and understands and supports the next generation of Optometrists as they go through their educational process.
The Stories within the Story include:
1:08 The Mentorship Story
7:35 The Immigrant Parents Story
10:40 The Going into Optometry Story
15:40 The Diversity in Optometry Story
22:10 The Optometric Educator Story
27:42 The Today’s Optometry Students Story
31:48 The Today’s Optometric Education Story
36:49 The Social Determinants of Health Story
40:54 The Access to Care Story
45:18 The Caring for Humanity Story
48:48 The Personal Joys Story
Tuesday Aug 27, 2024
Tuesday Aug 27, 2024
Dr. Dori Carlson’s accomplishments in Optometry are stupendous, including a decade-plus of service to the American Optometric Association which culminated with her serving as the first female President of the AOA. Dr. Carlson has leveraged the values of her early days along with a commitment to continual personal and professional improvement to become an incredibly important part of the fabric of the profession.
The Stories within the Story include:
1:00 The Hobby Story
4:01 The Family Story
6:05 The Couple Building a Practice Story
12:02 The Growing Up in a Small Town Story
15:26 The Influence into Optometry Story
18:04 The Pacific University Story
22:26 The Volunteerism Story
24:34 The AOA President Story
30:30 The Observation of the Evolution of Education Story
34:49 The Masters in Leadership Story
37:48 The “Not Ready to be Done” Story
42:32 The Combating Apathy Story
50:43 The Story That’s Never Been Told Story
52:42 The Motivator Story
Monday Aug 05, 2024
Monday Aug 05, 2024
Dr. Steven Lee grew up in Toronto, studied at the University of Waterloo, and attended the Illinois College of Optometry. A self-described “nerdy gadget guy,” he quickly became interested in disruptive technology that might support patients. He co-founded the company, Opternative, that eventually became quite controversial for its direct-to-patient care approach, and has had a career full of entrepreneurial journeys. Learn all of them in this episode!
The Stories within the Story include:
1:21 The Influence toward Science Story
2:42 The Toronto Upbringing Story
6:20 The Interest in Optometry Story
9:17 The Early Career Story
9:57 The Opternative Backstory Story
14:52 The Opternative Story
22:46 The Opternative Evolution Story
28:12 The Opternative Controversy Story
31:13 The Opternative Learnings Story
34:42 The Optometry Studyguide Controversy Story
38:19 The Building a Family Story
40:21 The Evolving Businessperson Story
48:27 The Zenni Optical Story
49:53 The Online Optical Scrutiny Story
53:02 The Doctor-Patient Story
56:54 The Entrepreneur Story
58:48 The Patient-Facing Technology Story
1:02:52 The Prospect (or not) of AI Story
1:07:39 The Benevolence Story
1:09:33 The Future of Optometry Story
Monday Jun 17, 2024
Monday Jun 17, 2024
Dr. Linda Casser has had a career of service — to three Colleges of Optometry, the National Board of Examiners in Optometry, the American Academy of Optometry, the American Optometric Association, and the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry. Her career concluded with being granted Professor Emerita status in August 2022 from Salus University Pennsylvania College of Optometry. She’s an author, mentor, and industry leader, and someone I consider having established the bedrock foundation for modern Optometry. Dr. Casser has always championed the powerful, positive impact of women in Optometry.
Her many stories weave together to demonstrate her commitment to patient safety, advancement of the profession of Optometry, and a steadfast view that Optometric education should continue to advance to best serve the patient. Whether it’s hearing about her being part of one of Optometry’s first residency programs, or her role in leadership of the Indiana Optometric Association, or her efforts to lead interprofessional health care education programs, Dr. Casser has been a part of incredible teams that advanced eye care.
In this episode, you will hear about her long and winding road from graduation from IU in 1978, to PCO, back to IU, to Pacific University, and then back to PCO. She shares insights about some of her colleagues with whom she partnered in various endeavors, a list that is truly a “who’s who” of Optometry. Dr. Casser is certainly one of those! As a current member of the AOA Optometric Historical Society Committee, this set of stories are truly a series of important steps in the advancement of the profession, as influenced so positively by her involvement.
The Stories within The Story Include:
1:09 The Retired but Contributing Story
2:29 The NBEO Story
7:15 The Advancing Education Story
9:53 The Upbringing Story
11:47 The Path Into Optometry Story
18:09 The Early Optometry Residency Story
23:56 The Start in Academics at PCO Story
28:01 The Headed Back to IU Story
31:00 The Pacific Story
32:56 The Advancing PCO/Salus Story
41:59 The Academy Story
45:49 The Indiana Volunteerism Story
48:51 The ASCO Story
52:37 The Mentorship Story
Runtime: 1 hr 1 min
Wednesday May 15, 2024
Wednesday May 15, 2024
A 1993 graduate of NECO, Dr. Alan Glazier has spent a career in Optometry as an entrepreneur. He worked in his dad’s practice in his early days along with many other roles that found him starting businesses. He learned business insights along the way, and credits his height for his accomplishments. He self-taught to become a marketing expert, which led him to become the founder of the most prolific online community for Optometry, called ODs on Facebook. He’s an inventor, but also knows that failure is part of the road. Dr. Glazier built a fantastic private practice, and also went through a sale to Private Equity while also doing business development for the buyer, Keplr, giving him an incredible context of its impact on the profession. His Optometry and personal and family stories are inspiring and worth a listen!
The Stories within the Story:
1:16 The Metal Detector Story
4:03 The Family (and Dog) Story
5:11 The Growing Up Story
7:00 The Family of Optometrists Story
8:08 The Early Career Story
10:49 The OD Business Acumen Story
12:44 The Height Story
14:05 The Online Community Story
20:27 The FluoreSCENE Media Story
22:02 The Inventiveness Story
25:56 The NECO Passion Story
29:18 The Hope for the Profession’s Future Story
31:08 The Private Equity Story
34:49 The Israel Story
36:44 The Bernie Cohen Story
38:04 The Phish Story
39:00 The Influencers Story
42:38 The Presbyopia Theory Story
46:02 The Managing Reviews Story
49:07 The Organized Optometry Story
51:05 The Challenge of the Future Story
53:45 The No One Knows This Story
54:29 The Appreciation Story
Wednesday Mar 06, 2024
Wednesday Mar 06, 2024
Raised on a rural farm in Maryland, Ed Buffington learned the lessons of hard work. These lessons translated into a tremendous career in the eye care industry, where he was the founder of OfficeMate software and today serves as CEO of GPN Technologies, the company that brings the EDGEPro data dashboard to eye care professionals. In March 2024, he was honored by Prevent Blindness as the 2024 “Person of Vision” in recognition of his incredible contributions.
Ed’s many stories cover his start as a contact lens rep, as well as the efforts to bring OfficeMate to the industry. He is a proud husband, father, and grandfather, and speaks about how important that part of his life is. Equally important is the positive influence he has had on the many people that have worked with and for him.
The Stories within the Story:
1:14 The Building Friendships Story
2:31 The Growing Up on the Farm Story
4:31 The “Charlie” Story
7:30 The Plan to be an Educator Story
9:54 The Marriage and Family Story
10:25 The Salesperson Story
12:06 The Getting into the Eye Care Industry Story
14:14 The Creating OfficeMate Story
20:34 The Adding the EHR Story
24:40 The Marchon Partnership Story
26:29 The VSP Partnership Story
28:40 The GPN Data Story
31:15 The Mentors Story
36:40 The “Person of Vision” Story
40:57 The GPN VISIONS Story
42:23 The Incredible Teams Story
Runtime: 46 min
Friday Jan 26, 2024
Friday Jan 26, 2024
Dr. Ann Hoscheit is owner of EyeBridge Consulting Associates, after a long career in which she built two separate iconic eye care practices. She’s a graduate of the University of Houston College of Optometry. Dr. Hoscheit has been a trailblazer in women’s leadership in Optometry. She finds true joy and prosperity in Optometry, and through these many stories she hopes that her colleagues will also.
The Stories within the Story include:
1:11 The Midwestern Upbringing Story
3:29 The Mom’s Example Story
4:55 The Inspiration from Matthew Story
6:36 The Getting into Optometry Story
8:39 The Incredible Husband Story
10:36 The Harold Varner III Story
11:15 The Novel Practice Model Story
15:15 The Women-Centered Practice Story
20:58 The Power of Mentorship Story
22:18 The Sale to Private Equity Story
25:10 The Specialty Center of Excellence Story
30:42 The Integrative Medicine Story
35:54 The Industry Supporter Story
41:18 The Eye Care Equates to Quality of Life Story
43:26 The Power of Influence Story
46:28 The Future of Optometry Education Story
52:34 The Reassurance Story
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
An Ohio guy who thought he would remain there forever, Dr. Rick Weisbarth became an internationally respected Doctor of Optometry who supported the profession through his role in professional relations for Alcon Laboratories (and formerly CIBA VISION) as well as a lecturer on a variety of contact lens topics. He graduated from The Ohio State University College of Optometry and became connected with friends with whom he would provide career-long support of the American Academy of Optometry. One of his unique contributions was involvement in the National Academies of Practice, which is a multidisciplinary group working to support each other’s approach to caring for patients. Dr. Weisbarth has been a leader since his days in the optometry fraternity at OSU, and that has carried through to his retirement during which time he has helped advance the Alcon Children’s Vision Center in Fort Worth, TX. His many stories are compelling because he consistently challenged himself to move out of his comfort zone, and the lessons that come from his experiences can be of value to all. And - it’s very important for the audience to know that Dr. Weisbarth was put on the spot when talking about mentors, so if he didn’t mention you, please forgive him!
The Stories within the Story include:
1:08 The Cleveland Upbringing Story
2:58 The Advice Story
4:07 The Introduction to Eye Care Story
6:42 The OSU Optometry Story
9:40 The Leadership Journey Story
11:04 The Early Career Story
16:56 The Contact Lens Industry Story
20:23 The International Lecturer Story
22:01 The Industry Support Story
27:04 The Optometrist Insight Story
29:11 The Commitment to the Academy Story
32:50 The Volunteering Advice Story
35:50 The Lifelong Learning Story
37:55 The Mentor Story
40:12 The National Academies of Practice Story
44:35 The Alcon Children’s Vision Clinic Story
52:42 The Hobbies Story
54:05 The Family Story
Run time: 57 min
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Scott shares four pearls to building and enjoying a life well-lived, which is aspirational and to which we will be judged by others some day in the future