Today we’d like to introduce you to Kennard Herring

Hi Kennard, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?

The beginning of any journey is always inspiring and it typically turns into a caterpillar to butterfly story. One of the things that I find to be most compelling about someone’s journey is their why. I will begin my journey with what motivated me to pursue starting a private practice. I have three reasons that I decided to pursue private practice and they all simultaneously hit me at the same time. Reason number one I decided to pursue private practice was because I was tired of being a worker and wanted to be an owner. Reason number two, I would be able to leave something behind for my child. Reason number three, I possess the optometric background to operate a full service practice. My journey started as an optician in 2001. I worked for several opticals until 2004 when I landed a job at a corporate entity in Manhattan, Ny. This was the first corporate entity I was employed at and I found the experience to be eye opening. My previous experience has been in opticals within a private practice. I quickly learned that I was not built to work in a corporate setting. The rules, corporate politics and the treatment of their employees was unsatisfactory to my standard. I learned that as an employee I was a dime a dozen because I was treated like a low level employee. The biggest turnoff about working for this corporate entity was when they did not reach their monthly goal, they would cut employee hours to save on payroll. At that time I was living in Brooklyn, Ny, living check to check barely making ends meet and I was on the verge of getting married. When my employer exercised cutting my work hours (which happened on several occasions) it put me in a very difficult financial position. Because I was living check to check if I did not work 40 hours a week, I would not be able to pay my bills.This caused me to become tired of someone else being in control of the means for me to provide for my family. I was also tired of being at the bottom of the financial totem pole. I knew I had the skill set to do more than what opticianry had to offer and I was challenged to figure it out my next step. The optometrist I worked with at the time and to date a very close friend of mine asked me a simple question. The question she asked me was why don’t you go to optometry school? I took the time to sit and think about my friend’s question and this is how I rationalized my decision to pursue optometry school. I created a list of issues that I was struggling with and I created a list of ways optometry school could solve these issues.
Issues:
My livelihood was dependent on someone else’s business and their productivity goals.
As an employee there was no financial stability for me.
I wasn’t making enough money to support my family.
I would have nothing to leave behind for my family.

Resolutions:
Optometry school would increase my income
I have a higher level of respect if I am employed
My hours would not get cut because I am the doctor
I could start a private practice because I know opticianry and optometry

After creating this list optometry quickly became the cure to the struggles that I was having in life. I sat and thought about all the employment opportunities I’d had since I entered the workforce at 17 yrs old. I realized that in many ways they were all the same, each was a job. In each of those jobs, I was dependent on my employer for my livelihood and it could be taken away in the blink of an eye. I had allowed someone else to be in control of my earning power and that wasn’t feasible for me anymore. I needed to find a way to control my own financial power. My new found goal was to grow as a professional by becoming an optometrist, open my own practice and therefore I would be in control of my own destiny. I knew between opticianry and optometry that I would have the technical skill to perform the services for a private practice. Pursuing a private practice became the motivation and the solution to all my issues. This is where my journey began.
In June the summer of 2006, I became a newlywed and that summer I decided to pursue my dream to become an optometrist. I started summer school at my undergrad Brooklyn College after a 3 year break from community college where I earned my associate degree in opticianry. Re-entering the educational system was very challenging for me because I came from a poor educational background, I never learned how to learn, I had to work full-time to continue to pay my bills and I was a newlywed at the age of 24. I struggled tremendously in undergrad and I had withdrawn from several classes and received C’s in many of my prerequisite courses. To add more to my plate in August 2007, a year later my daughter Lia was born. I was now responsible for the well being and livelihood for not only my wife at the time but my newborn daughter. When Lia was born my motivation and desperation to get into optometry school became 20 times greater because I had a daughter to provide for. I scratched and clawed to get subpar grades while working full time, being a new father and navigating a failing marriage. In 2008, I ended up splitting from my wife and I moved out of the house. At the same time my grades improved to where I became a B student because I finally taught myself how to learn. I struggled financially and emotionally because I couldn’t support myself and I had to move away from my daughter. Regardless, I was able to find a way to survive and still maintain decent grades.
In 2009, I decided to apply for optometry school at Salus University. I chose to apply to Salus University because they stated you did not need a bachelors degree to be accepted into the program, they promoted diversity and they were close to New York. When I applied to Salus University I applied with no bachelors degree and a 2.65 GPA. The strength of my application was very weak and as a result my application was denied. Though my application was denied I was offered an opportunity to attend their Summer Enrichment Program called SEP. SEP was a program to provide unlikely candidates, particularly minorities, an opportunity to transition into optometry school. The program was like optometry school boot camp. You spent six weeks over the summer studying part of the first semester material for first year. If you did well in the program you were likely guaranteed a seat in the incoming class or the next year class. Being invited to SEP was an honor but I denied the invitation because I was not guaranteed a seat in the incoming class. I was not willing to leave my job for two months then come back home to no job or a home. I decided to take some recommended courses to strengthen my application and reapply for the class of 2010. I submitted my application in the fall of 2010 and I was invited for an interview in November 2010. I was elated for the opportunity to be invited for an interview and I knew this was the moment of truth. The moment that would change my life for all eternity. When I arrived for my interview I was set to have my interview with the Dean who to my surprise was a black man. He introduced himself and asked me to get comfortable and to have a seat. He asked me a few questions as it pertains to my journey in pursuit of a graduate degree. I shared with him my story of how I got to this moment. I shared with him my goals and how all I need is an opportunity. He asked me if I would be willing to complete the SEP program. My response was no problem as long as I am promised a seat if I perform well in the program. The Dean looked at me and he said ok, and I was praying inside my head that that meant he will provide me the opportunity. A month later on christmas eve I received my acceptance letter to Salus University and I knew at that moment my life had changed. I was a rare statistic, I was a student with no bachelors degree and a 2.65 GPA accepted into a graduate program. The SEP program and optometry school was fairly easy for me because of my journey pursuing good grades in undergrad and managing life. All I had to do was go to school and get good grades. I didn’t have to manage all of the other things in life that bore their weight on me. While in optometry school I managed to work part-time to provide for my daughter and I spent my spare time going back and forth to New York to see her. While in optometry school I quickly made the decision to reside in Philadelphia when I graduated. I realized the quality of life was more favorable if I stayed in Philly because of the cost of living, there was a need for a black optometrist in the community and I was close enough to have access to my daughter.
During optometry school I took the initiative to learn as much as I could about private practice. I compiled several books, articles, lectures and anything I could get my hands on that would help me pursue private practice once I graduated. When I graduated from optometry school and I obtained my degree, it was grind time! I began working on putting myself in a position to open a private practice. My first goal was to find employment so that I can reduce the debt that I carried while I was in optometry school. I found part-time work in a retail setting and two separate private practices. Working in a private practice setting was important to me because I knew I needed experience working in a private practice. My next step was to increase my business acumen. I knew that going into this business venture uneducated about business would put me at a disadvantage. To learn how to practice optometry was going to be easy but I knew nothing about starting and operating a business. I took it upon myself to read anything I could get my hands on about business in optometry and business overall. After reading several books and articles I developed a notebook with key items to help me make business decisions. I set a goal to pay off my debt which was 10K and to save 60K before I would pursue to open my practice. I alternated between working 7 days a week and 5 days a week until I opened my practice in 2017. The days I worked 5 days a week I would drive to New York to see Lia. After 3 years of working, saving, planning and learning I was ready to actively pursue opening my practice. I opened my doors in July 2017 and I haven’t looked back since.
After a year of owning my own practice I realized I still had plenty I didn’t know about business. I decided that I needed to continue to increase my business acumen and after six months in business I pursued a business cohort called PowerUp your Business that was offered for free by the city of Philadelphia. This program was designed to help you expand your business knowledge and assist you with building a business foundation for your business. The program was for two months and after I completed the program I was assigned a free business coach for a year. Obtaining a business coach was instrumental in the growth of my business and it helped me increase my financial literacy. After the year with my business coach was completed I decided to hire him to stay on board to continue to teach me and help me grow my practice. One year later I heard of another business accelerator program that was offered for free in Philadelphia. That program was the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program. This program was more advanced than the Power Up your business program and it specialized in teaching the business owner how to work on their business instead of working in your business and how to pursue growth opportunities.
To this day I still have my business coach, I am pursuing new business opportunities, and I have a stable and successful practice. I am now a consultant assisting others with their business ventures and I am still in pursuit to learn more! I am becoming the entrepreneur that I dreamed I would be and I know I wouldn’t have gotten this far without motivation for a better quality of life, my love for my daughter and ambition to become a lifelong learner.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

The beginning of any journey is always inspiring and it typically turns into a caterpillar to butterfly story. One of the things that I find to be most compelling about someone’s journey is their why. I will begin my journey with what motivated me to pursue starting a private practice. I have three reasons that I decided to pursue private practice and they all simultaneously hit me at the same time. Reason number one I decided to pursue private practice was because I was tired of being a worker and wanted to be an owner. Reason number two, I would be able to leave something behind for my child. Reason number three, I possess the optometric background to operate a full service practice. My journey started as an optician in 2001. I worked for several opticals until 2004 when I landed a job at a corporate entity in Manhattan, Ny. This was the first corporate entity I was employed at and I found the experience to be eye opening. My previous experience has been in opticals within a private practice. I quickly learned that I was not built to work in a corporate setting. The rules, corporate politics and the treatment of their employees was unsatisfactory to my standard. I learned that as an employee I was a dime a dozen because I was treated like a low level employee. The biggest turnoff about working for this corporate entity was when they did not reach their monthly goal, they would cut employee hours to save on payroll. At that time I was living in Brooklyn, Ny, living check to check barely making ends meet and I was on the verge of getting married. When my employer exercised cutting my work hours (which happened on several occasions) it put me in a very difficult financial position. Because I was living check to check if I did not work 40 hours a week, I would not be able to pay my bills.This caused me to become tired of someone else being in control of the means for me to provide for my family. I was also tired of being at the bottom of the financial totem pole. I knew I had the skill set to do more than what opticianry had to offer and I was challenged to figure it out my next step. The optometrist I worked with at the time and to date a very close friend of mine asked me a simple question. The question she asked me was why don’t you go to optometry school? I took the time to sit and think about my friend’s question and this is how I rationalized my decision to pursue optometry school. I created a list of issues that I was struggling with and I created a list of ways optometry school could solve these issues.
Issues:
My livelihood was dependent on someone else’s business and their productivity goals.
As an employee there was no financial stability for me.
I wasn’t making enough money to support my family.
I would have nothing to leave behind for my family.

Resolutions:
Optometry school would increase my income
I have a higher level of respect if I am employed
My hours would not get cut because I am the doctor
I could start a private practice because I know opticianry and optometry

After creating this list optometry quickly became the cure to the struggles that I was having in life. I sat and thought about all the employment opportunities I’d had since I entered the workforce at 17 yrs old. I realized that in many ways they were all the same, each was a job. In each of those jobs, I was dependent on my employer for my livelihood and it could be taken away in the blink of an eye. I had allowed someone else to be in control of my earning power and that wasn’t feasible for me anymore. I needed to find a way to control my own financial power. My new found goal was to grow as a professional by becoming an optometrist, open my own practice and therefore I would be in control of my own destiny. I knew between opticianry and optometry that I would have the technical skill to perform the services for a private practice. Pursuing a private practice became the motivation and the solution to all my issues. This is where my journey began.
In June the summer of 2006, I became a newlywed and that summer I decided to pursue my dream to become an optometrist. I started summer school at my undergrad Brooklyn College after a 3 year break from community college where I earned my associate degree in opticianry. Re-entering the educational system was very challenging for me because I came from a poor educational background, I never learned how to learn, I had to work full-time to continue to pay my bills and I was a newlywed at the age of 24. I struggled tremendously in undergrad and I had withdrawn from several classes and received C’s in many of my prerequisite courses. To add more to my plate in August 2007, a year later my daughter Lia was born. I was now responsible for the well being and livelihood for not only my wife at the time but my newborn daughter. When Lia was born my motivation and desperation to get into optometry school became 20 times greater because I had a daughter to provide for. I scratched and clawed to get subpar grades while working full time, being a new father and navigating a failing marriage. In 2008, I ended up splitting from my wife and I moved out of the house. At the same time my grades improved to where I became a B student because I finally taught myself how to learn. I struggled financially and emotionally because I couldn’t support myself and I had to move away from my daughter. Regardless, I was able to find a way to survive and still maintain decent grades.
In 2009, I decided to apply for optometry school at Salus University. I chose to apply to Salus University because they stated you did not need a bachelors degree to be accepted into the program, they promoted diversity and they were close to New York. When I applied to Salus University I applied with no bachelors degree and a 2.65 GPA. The strength of my application was very weak and as a result my application was denied. Though my application was denied I was offered an opportunity to attend their Summer Enrichment Program called SEP. SEP was a program to provide unlikely candidates, particularly minorities, an opportunity to transition into optometry school. The program was like optometry school boot camp. You spent six weeks over the summer studying part of the first semester material for first year. If you did well in the program you were likely guaranteed a seat in the incoming class or the next year class. Being invited to SEP was an honor but I denied the invitation because I was not guaranteed a seat in the incoming class. I was not willing to leave my job for two months then come back home to no job or a home. I decided to take some recommended courses to strengthen my application and reapply for the class of 2010. I submitted my application in the fall of 2010 and I was invited for an interview in November 2010. I was elated for the opportunity to be invited for an interview and I knew this was the moment of truth. The moment that would change my life for all eternity. When I arrived for my interview I was set to have my interview with the Dean who to my surprise was a black man. He introduced himself and asked me to get comfortable and to have a seat. He asked me a few questions as it pertains to my journey in pursuit of a graduate degree. I shared with him my story of how I got to this moment. I shared with him my goals and how all I need is an opportunity. He asked me if I would be willing to complete the SEP program. My response was no problem as long as I am promised a seat if I perform well in the program. The Dean looked at me and he said ok, and I was praying inside my head that that meant he will provide me the opportunity. A month later on christmas eve I received my acceptance letter to Salus University and I knew at that moment my life had changed. I was a rare statistic, I was a student with no bachelors degree and a 2.65 GPA accepted into a graduate program. The SEP program and optometry school was fairly easy for me because of my journey pursuing good grades in undergrad and managing life. All I had to do was go to school and get good grades. I didn’t have to manage all of the other things in life that bore their weight on me. While in optometry school I managed to work part-time to provide for my daughter and I spent my spare time going back and forth to New York to see her. While in optometry school I quickly made the decision to reside in Philadelphia when I graduated. I realized the quality of life was more favorable if I stayed in Philly because of the cost of living, there was a need for a black optometrist in the community and I was close enough to have access to my daughter.
During optometry school I took the initiative to learn as much as I could about private practice. I compiled several books, articles, lectures and anything I could get my hands on that would help me pursue private practice once I graduated. When I graduated from optometry school and I obtained my degree, it was grind time! I began working on putting myself in a position to open a private practice. My first goal was to find employment so that I can reduce the debt that I carried while I was in optometry school. I found part-time work in a retail setting and two separate private practices. Working in a private practice setting was important to me because I knew I needed experience working in a private practice. My next step was to increase my business acumen. I knew that going into this business venture uneducated about business would put me at a disadvantage. To learn how to practice optometry was going to be easy but I knew nothing about starting and operating a business. I took it upon myself to read anything I could get my hands on about business in optometry and business overall. After reading several books and articles I developed a notebook with key items to help me make business decisions. I set a goal to pay off my debt which was 10K and to save 60K before I would pursue to open my practice. I alternated between working 7 days a week and 5 days a week until I opened my practice in 2017. The days I worked 5 days a week I would drive to New York to see Lia. After 3 years of working, saving, planning and learning I was ready to actively pursue opening my practice. I opened my doors in July 2017 and I haven’t looked back since.
After a year of owning my own practice I realized I still had plenty I didn’t know about business. I decided that I needed to continue to increase my business acumen and after six months in business I pursued a business cohort called PowerUp your Business that was offered for free by the city of Philadelphia. This program was designed to help you expand your business knowledge and assist you with building a business foundation for your business. The program was for two months and after I completed the program I was assigned a free business coach for a year. Obtaining a business coach was instrumental in the growth of my business and it helped me increase my financial literacy. After the year with my business coach was completed I decided to hire him to stay on board to continue to teach me and help me grow my practice. One year later I heard of another business accelerator program that was offered for free in Philadelphia. That program was the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program. This program was more advanced than the Power Up your business program and it specialized in teaching the business owner how to work on their business instead of working in your business and how to pursue growth opportunities.
To this day I still have my business coach, I am pursuing new business opportunities, and I have a stable and successful practice. I am now a consultant assisting others with their business ventures and I am still in pursuit to learn more! I am becoming the entrepreneur that I dreamed I would be and I know I wouldn’t have gotten this far without motivation for a better quality of life, my love for my daughter and ambition to become a lifelong learner.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?

Nostalgic Eye Care is a primary optometric office located in Mt. Airy, Philadelphia. Nostalgic Eye Care is dedicated to the community in which it serves by providing comprehensive, competent, and patient-centered vision care to create an experience to last a lifetime. By utilizing the most cutting-edge technology made available we ensure that patients are receiving the highest quality of care in the prevention and management of ocular conditions.

We specialize in various areas of optometric care from specialty contact lenses, Dry Eye, Ocular disease, contact lenses, and eyewear. What sets us apart from our competition is our quality of customer service, top-tier technology, and our optical features styles you will find just anywhere.

I am most proud that we create an experience for our clientele while providing a high-level quality of care. When our clientele come to our office we want it to feel like you are visiting family. We were able to establish this in our office culture. We have been able to integrate ourselves in the community we serve by contributing to the overall good of the community. Lastly, I am proud to be able to provide job opportunities for residents in the community.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?

Growing up, I was a very responsible child that followed his path. I was good at observing my surroundings and processing what I was seeing. I possessed a strong personality, intelligent but didn’t realize how intelligent I was. I was huge on playing video games which kept me out of trouble. I enjoyed playing and watching sports as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nostalgiceyecare.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nostalgiceyecare
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nostalgiceyecare