We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Annalee Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Annalee, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

We are on a mission to empower visually impaired women by making them realize their immense potential and help them break the barriers in the visually impaired and blind community. Our mission is not just to create awareness but also sisterhood within this movement. Vision:
For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). We wish to create a community of visually impaired and blind women who are led by faith and enthusiasm to reach their highest potential, and whose growth and development are not limited by stereotypes.

Annalee, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a visually impaired plus size model who created my own platform, After, winning the 2021 the Face of Kurvacious modeling competition. In October of 2021 the Not My Eyes Fashion Showcase was originated. It was catered to woman of various ethnic backgrounds and most of all they were visually impaired. The event was a great success because we had 15 models and 5 known designers in the industry, news media, and magazines were present. We broke barriers on that day of the event and it was titled Inspiration on the runway. Not My Eyes is also a fundraiser to shed light on the blind and visually impaired community. Each year we will select an organization in our community which we believe is feasible. In the show, we utilized a blind comedian and a blind de-jay. This is just to display to society that we make to impossible to become possible and may not have sight but we have vision.

Any advice for managing a team?

To manage a team, you will have to be consistent with everything in which you do and set an example of how you conduct business. Be respectful to your team members and to speak to each person with great confidence and be kind to everyone. Always listen to them with whatever advice, and or situation which may arise and to help them resolve any form of issues.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses

No, this is the first non profit organization or business i ever owned or formed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.notmyeyes.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plusmodelannalee/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004991343220&mibextide=zbWKwL
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/annalee-bowen-smith-990341256