Yep, I know. People who are all those things, achievers, doers, go-getters and pathfinders are not always women!

Nevertheless, women who are emerging in their professional careers and those who have reached higher levels of responsibility, are changing the face of the optical and vision care space, as their numbers and the visibility of their contributions increase.

And we continue to believe that the roles women play through all sectors of our business and the profession of eyecare need to be called out and personified through the profiles of the women VM chooses to include in our signature ‘Most Influential Women in Optical’ report each year.

This is our 17th year of soliciting nominations from our readers across so many types of companies and businesses in the space. The editorial team here reviews the names and comments for women submitted for consideration by their colleagues, peers, bosses, mentors and friends, and we make our selections from those.

We’re thrilled to recognize them and get to know them a little better through our interviews. We also enjoy that they span Executive Suite, Rising Stars, Innovators and Mentors and that we can shine a spotlight on their achievements

It’s funny but ‘achievement’ can sometimes get a bad rap. In 2019, ‘over-achiever’ can still be a code word for being ‘too ambitious.’

But, what is that criticism really saying..? Nothing meaningful, in this woman’s opinion.

While there certainly are challenges in the work/business/creative worlds, it’s a convenient way to dismiss accomplishment, design and the spark to do better or to do well.

We’ve profiled literally hundreds of amazing people in VM’s #MostInfluentialWomen stories over the years. Visit VisionMonday.com and check them out, we post the prior years’ reports and the total alpha list there.

Hope you’ll join us in saluting the individual and collective contributions of them all.

maxelrad@jobson.com