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Name: Dr. Pauline Leong (@PaulineLeongOD)
Business: OptimEyes Vision of LIC and Vernon Gantry Eyewear
Founded: 2014 and 2016 respectively
Pauline Leong, O.D., is a self-professed non-conformist. Admitting she craves “freedom on all fronts,” Pauline likes setting her own schedule and her own priorities, both at work and during her off hours. Fortunately, Pauline has always had 20/20 vision about her desire for independence, which explains why, after earning her degree, she opted for self-employment. As an independent contractor at various practices for nine years, Pauline conducted vision screenings for kids, co-managed LASIK surgery clients and worked with patients suffering from serious eye disease. Eventually, Pauline realized opening her own practice was the best way for her to keep on doing things her way. The one thing she didn’t see coming? Opening a business in Long Island City, in the heart of own her hometown borough of Queens, New York.
Pauline, you’ve always worked for yourself. Is it challenging now to be working with two business partners?
It’s true I’ve never had a 9-5 job. I’m not very traditional, and I’ve always wanted to be able to run things in a way that suits my personality. Now I have two business partners, Dr. Scott Tisdale and Dr. Rajat Shetty. We all graduated from SUNY College of Optometry. We are very different from each other, yet together, we make a cohesive team.
Scott and I met five years ago at a Continuing Ed dinner. As we were talking, I mentioned wanting to start my own business. Something clicked, and four months later, we signed the lease for OptimEyes Vision.
I knew Rajat because I mentored him for six years. When he learned I was opening a practice, he said he’d love to work for me. I said no, work with me.
When it comes to running the business, Rajat is the money guy. Scott is the creative genius. I handle more of the customer relations and networking. I guess I’m the cohesive bond for the three of us. We’re like family, which means most of the time, we all get along!
Tell us about your two businesses.
OptimEyes Vision is a full-scope optometric practice. It’s the only primary eye-care clinic in Long Island City, which means we’re meeting a real need for this community.
Vernon Gantry Eyewear is a separate business Scott and I started in response to trends showing people are shopping for glasses on the Internet and at big box stores. Scott is the lead designer for our line of glasses. The look and feel is high-end, but we can sell them directly to other eye-care professionals for a fraction of the typical cost. We sell Vernon Gantry frames in our retail store, too.
Patients now have lots of options if they want to take their prescription and buy glasses somewhere else. Creating our own line of eyewear is our way of capturing those customers, both in our practice or at other clinics.
Initially, you were reluctant to open your practice in Long Island City. Why? And how do you feel now about “coming home?”
My original plan was to build a business in Brooklyn, not in Queens, which is where I grew up. Long Island City is about 30 minutes from my home town of Forest Hills, and I still thought of it as a “pass-through” place on the way to Manhattan. When Scott first mentioned Queens, I said, never!
He convinced me to keep an open mind. We visited, and I realized the community has changed so much. When I was growing up, it was undeveloped and pretty raw. Now people come flooding off the 6 p.m. train. There’s a beautiful skyline with huge residential buildings but a small-community feel. Long Island City is full of families and hard-working professionals who love supporting local small businesses. It’s been a great move for us.
As a local business owner, do you feel it’s important to give back to your community?
We do a lot of things to connect with and support our community. We’ll offer vision screenings at a local church or a street fair, and we try to participate in fundraisers or charity drives. If a high school student wants to volunteer or be an intern at our practice, they can. I love giving kids exposure to this profession.
What do you find most challenging about being a business owner?
Bookkeeping! Besides that, I struggle with the best way to manage my staff. Four years ago, I was pretty naive. I was very open and shared things with employees that probably should have stayed between business partners. Now I check myself and ask, am I a friend as well as an employer? Am I too easy-going? Do I share too much?
I’m pretty soft-spoken, so sometimes I feel like I’m not always heard or things I say aren’t always addressed with quite enough urgency or attention. It’s something I’m learning to work on -- finding my voice as a business owner and a boss.
My goal is to create a happy, healthy working environment and have strong, balanced relationships with my staff and my colleagues. If our team fundamentally feels positive and supported, we’ll all be motivated to provide great customer service, which is good for business.
Pauline, you offer some eye-care services that aren’t typically found in an optometric practice.
If a patient is open to it, I will add a holistic approach to an exam or treatment plan. It might be something a simple as discussing how vitamin supplements can boost eye health. We could go deeper into my love of Chinese medicine and talk about the meridian system or how herbs might help with a symptom or problem. Or, we could explore the underlying emotional component and ask, why is the body struggling to find stasis right now?
My belief in Chinese medicine and ancient practices makes me an outlier in the optometric industry, but taking a holistic approach to health is a big part of my identity. I believe our eyes reflect what’s going on within us at a deeper level, and if the person in the chair is interested, I’m happy to share everything I know.
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