Sandbox Stories - The Podcast
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
Dr. Masoud Nafey is a technology expert who brings a wide array of views about how Optometry might utilize the tools at their discretion to best connect with the 21st century health and eye care consumer. He provides an excellent insight to how we might advance as a profession while the patients advance toward more of a consumerist approach to consuming their eye care. From a family of Afghan refugees, he has an inc...
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 ...
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 Na...
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.
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 t...
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, an...
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...
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 rec...
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 inclu...
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 ...
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
Dr. John Potter is a true treasure to the profession. A graduate of the Indiana University School of Optometry, he has been at the forefront of every major evolutionary step in Optometry over the last fifty years. After all of his time in Optometry, he used his intellectual basis to move into an entirely different career as an educator - now serving as clinical associate professor of dispute resolution and conflict management at So...
Dr. Vince Brandys has translated a Chicago upbringing in a family that served the community into a career in Optometry that has included deep involvement in professional advocacy. His words of encouragement to his colleagues to step up their support of the profession are to be heard by all.
In semi-retirement, I built a spec home in Orlando to get away from Wisconsin's winters. In this Sandbox Story, you'll get perspective of how my experiences taught me something about how optometry might better manage its business to focus on the expectations of its customers.
Run time: 7 min 30 sec
Dr. Araba Otoo received the 2022 Student of the Year Award from the American Optometric Student Association (AOSA.) She has started her practice career in a residency in the VA system, and is motivated to drive a global ocular wellness mindset into the profession. As a child in Ghana, she malingered to get glasses when she was very young. Her impressionable mind was pushed toward eyecare due to seeing her parents ...
Jay Binkowitz has used deep business acumen to drive a number of differentiated businesses into the eye care industry. His path into the optical business led to building the most powerful data dashboard in the industry, EDGEPro.
The Stories within the Story include:
1:01 The Upbringing Story
5:45 The Hustle Story
8:30 The Optical Story
Lynn Lawrence is a career Optometric Technician, starting that role as part of a thirty-plus year career in the Air Force, and has built a consulting business for the eye care industry which teaches leadership. His commitment to the profession is to drive advancement through learning, certification, and thoughtful leadership.
The Stories within the Story Include:
1:08 The St. Louis Upbrin...
Dr. Bob Layman has been the AOA President from June 2021 through June 2022. This interview is the first one done with a sitting President of the AOA, and some of his best views are shared about how optometry must be politically thoughtful and mindful to stay successful. Most importantly, Bob’s true humility and drive toward service shines through.
The Stories within the Story Include:
...A North Dakotan, Dr. Nate Lighthizer has an incredible story about how he grew up doing fishing trips with his family, as well as participating in sports as a kid. After graduating from Pacific University College of Optometry, he advanced his career to his current position on faculty at Northeastern State University College of Optometry in Tallequah, OK. Dr. Lighthizer has had a tremendous impact on the profession b...
Simply put, Lex is a deeply caring human being. I've never met anyone, young or old, who is as able to connect with others as Lex does. He's autistic, transgender, and loving. This Sandbox Story has life lessons in it for every one of us.
The Stories within the Story include:
1:11 The Disney College Program Story
3:33 The Kentucky Upbringing Story
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.