Kathy Bryanton (left) with Juanita Leary, President

Please help us to celebrate Kathy Bryanton, an amazing employee who has been with Vogue Optical for 35 years. She makes a positive impact on everyone she works with, and has left her mark on this company since her time working in retail at our Brackley Point location in the late 80’s. Now as the Director of Product Development for Vogue Optical, Kathy continues to bring her smile, her passion, and her knowledge to everything she does. Congratulations to Kathy on 35 years. We can’t wait to see what you do next!

Kathy’s story:

“I have been in the Optical industry for 40 years. I started with JM Rusk Optometrist in 1984. I was hired as a receptionist but quickly fell in love with the industry and within a year I enrolled in the 2-year Dispensing Opticians course. After 5 years working with JM Rusk Optometrists, I reached out to Wayne Gray, then-owner of Vogue Optical, and asked if I could meet with him.

As much as I loved working for an Optometrist I wanted to explore working for an independent Optical. Wayne hired me in 1989 and I worked in the store on Brackley Pt Road for just over a year. In 1990 I became the manager of the newly opened location in the Confederation Court Mall on Queen St. I remained there until 2002 when we moved the location to 134 Kent St where I continued as the manager.

In 2003 Head Office had a contest to encourage staff to come up with cost savings ideas. The winner of the contest would win a trip to the Vision Expo East Convention (VEE) in NY city. I won that contest and made my first of what would end up being 8 trips to VEE! On the flight back home from the original trip I vowed that someday I would work at Head Office and return to VEE in NY.

In 2005 Head Office added a new position: Director of Purchasing. I interviewed for and won the position, and in 2005 I left managing retail and entered the world of working at Head office for the first time. I worked in purchasing until 2013 when I took the position of Director of Manufacturing for our Lens manufacturing facility in PEI. There I oversaw the daily running of the manufacturing facility and was the liaison to Head Office and the stores. I remained in this roll until the end of 2020. In 2021 I took on my current position of Director of Product Development.”