Danielle Richardson is a fulltime optometrist at Optometrix in Hollywood, Calif. A graduate of Indiana University School of Optometry, she created her Instagram page, Fierce Clarity as a way to combine her love for all things health and wellness—from yoga, plant-based recipes, meditation, motivational quotes and personal development. The aim for Richardson, was to create a space that leaves her target audience of Millennial working professionals feeling good about themselves. “I think much of the advice we receive in the health and wellness space is ‘preachy’ and makes people feel bad about themselves for not being perfect,” Richardson told VMail Weekend. “My approach to Fierce Clarity content centers around accessibility and relatability because I want people to leave feeling empowered to make healthier choices from where they are.”

While her content applies to her patients as well, Richardson mainly focuses on giving working professionals tips on how to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle. “I post based on a combination of my personal studies, conversations with patients, and larger themes/issues that we all experience living in the digital age,” Richardson explained. “I leave it to my colleagues to post clinical optometric content and I focus more on content about living a healthy, balanced life as a working professional.”

Fierce Clarity, which has garnered a whopping 11,000 followers since its inception in 2016, is comprised of feel-good content that is colorful, clean and green. As the page was coming together, most of Richardson’s post fell into the blue, green, red and purple color scheme, a coincidence that only aided in establishing her cheerful aesthetic. In between posts of the latest Kombucha she’s just tried or her recent yoga class, we also see her at a beach front or poolside, wearing eye-catching frames and being exemplary of “living your best/healthiest life,” a common theme that runs throughout the quotes she posts.

  

Though her life as an optometrist doesn’t directly impact her page as much as her life as a yoga instructor and student does, she still stresses the importance of your diet as an integral part of your eye health. “Food is integral to all aspects of health: physical, mental, and emotional. Additionally, food is medicine and our primary source of energy,” she explained. “If you want the quality of your life to improve, the first step is always improving the quality of your food. As an optometrist, educating patients about healthy eye foods is a natural extension of that philosophy.”

In addition to updating the page daily, Richardson has taken Fierce Clarity off the internet and hosts pop-up wellness events, yoga classes and wellness retreats, making time management a bit of a challenge. “It can be difficult to juggle event production, content creation, and working full time but I focus on working smarter, not harder. Proper prioritization and scheduling time for rest and working out are key to my being able to do it all,” she stated. All her hard work is paying off, however. “I’m starting to experience that here in LA since patients post from the office and tag Fierce Clarity. That post will bring in their friends and family, and they’ll mention the Instagram during their exam.”

As for the future for Fierce Clarity, Richardson hopes to continue growing and eventually add more video and yoga content. In the meantime, she hopes her followers understand the path to lead a happy and healthy life can happen in small steps.