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

Juliette, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

NURILENS’ mission is to combine fashion + function + impact while providing products that support eye and vision health. Over the past few years, I have been working with some of NURILENS’ eye experts to understand the challenges Blacks and other people of color face regarding their eye health. We found that Black and Latino populations are often at higher risk of being impacted by eye-related illness because of a lack of proactive attention to their eye health. Our research also found that Black professionals, especially, are grossly underrepresented in the eye health professional and eyewear industry. These findings prompted us to take a research focus to further explore these challenges and identify approaches to better serve our community.

This year, NURILENS launched the State of the Eye survey led by my VP and Director of Optical Operations, Karl Florestal, an ocular professional by trade, to understand the experiences of adults living in the United States with their eye healthcare and experiences. The findings are expected to be published in the first quarter of next year, and it will serve as the first step in our understanding of how to increase awareness of the importance of proactive eye health addresses and the barriers that underserved/marginalized groups in the United States face in that regard.

We also hope that readers who are at least 18-years-of-age and live in the United States will consider participating by taking the survey and sharing their experiences.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am, Dr. Juliette Nelson, the founder and CEO of NURILENS. I am an industrial-organizational psychologist by day and an eyewear brand owner and designer by night. I started NURILENS out of a desire for fashionable, cost-affordable frames that make me look and feel good. As someone who wears prescription glasses, I understand the challenge of spending hundreds of dollars to get a quality pair of lenses for my glasses. That being said, I also wanted to ensure that my product offering was all-inclusive of some of the features that contribute to a healthier & quality vision experience. This includes lenses with blue-light-blocking technology, ultraviolet protection, glare filters, and other premium features. And did I mention that the lenses come in a chic pair of wooden frames?

While my brand primarily focuses on selling eyewear, as an I-O psychologist and certified professional in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, I understand how important it is to serve those who are often not represented or considered in research or practice. As an Afro-Caribbean woman-owned business owner, I understand what it means to so many to see someone who looks like them doing the work that I do. I apply my expertise to ensure an evidence-based approach to produce quality, sustainable products while addressing systemic barriers that impact customers and professionals in the world of eye & vision health.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I have had to unlearn that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to running a business. In fact, one-size-fits-all approaches often have an expiration date. When I first launched NURILENS, I was bombarded with people who offered services that they suggested would provide guaranteed results. I sat through videos of how people built advertisement strategies that brought significant returns for their companies. In the beginning, I beat myself up a lot because I struggled with understanding why explicitly applying their formula didn’t work. This forced me to focus more on NURILENS’ value proposition and mission and what made it unique. By doing this, my team and I have seen small wins and are continuing to grow the business.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing our clientele so far has been to prioritize meeting our customers in person at pop-up events, conferences, and festivals. Since we are an e-commerce brand, it is difficult to connect with customers as we’d like to. Going to these different events enables us to not only promote the brand but answer questions from potential customers and also inform them about the importance of prioritizing their eye health.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nurilens.co/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/nurilens
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nurilens/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nurilens
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@visionuri
• Other: State of the Eye Survey: https://nurilens.co/blogs/for-the-culture/unveiling-nurilens-state-of-the-eye-survey

Image Credits
C thru Lens Photography