Category: Industry

Southern Independent Optical Show (SIOS) 2025

April 24, 2025

The 2nd Annual Southern Independent Optical Show will take place in Frisco, Texas on Saturday, May 3, 2025. Whether you’re a seasoned optical pro or just beginning to explore the world of independent eyewear, SIOS 2025 offers something extraordinary. This isn’t just another trade show—it’s a celebration of creativity, community, and what makes the independent side of optical so exciting. Not only will there be a wonderfully large space full of independent optical companies to showcase their latest products, but

Optical Women's Association OWA Talks Podcast New Hosts

Now Co-Hosting Optical Women’s Association Podcast!

September 21, 2023

I recently joined the newly revamped OWA Talks Podcast as a new co-host! OWA Talks Podcast, from the Optical Women’s Association, began in 2020. The two existing co-hosts have stepped down and passed the hosting duties to myself and new partner, Tatiana Stewart. The first episode with us new hosts is a transition episode, where myself and Tatiana share about why we joined the OWA and our favorite memory thus far from being a member. You will also learn about

Why I Decided To Join The Optical Women’s Association

March 3, 2022

In light of myself being the current featured member of the Optical Women’s Association, I thought I would share why I decided to become a member. The optical world is very small, yet very large. I like to always be busy doing something, but simply blogging wasn’t filling up my cup. I wanted to reach more types of people, to learn from them and with them, and provide value where I could. I was a guest on the OWA Talks

Be Included In My Monthly Column

February 10, 2022

A few months back I took over a column in INVISION Magazine called REAL DEAL. The concept is super cool and not like a typical column in any magazine. I write a scenarios that are inspired by true stories but are changed to sharpen the dilemmas involved. This story gets sent out by email and readers are asked to respond with their solutions to the said problem. The peer-sourced opinions/solutions are then collected and then later published with the original

Carissa Dunphy, Optician Now, Cover of ROWT Magazine

Carissa on Cover of Latest ROWT Magazine

January 20, 2022

If you have not yet heard of ROWT Magazine, let me introduce you! ROWT stands for Reps and Opticians Working Together. It is a newer industry publication, this being the third issue. All of the content is written by opticians or reps, and all relating to our places within the industry. ROWT was founded by, you guessed it, a rep and an optician 🙂 I am honored to be on the cover of this third issue, and I also have

New Optician & Frame Rep Magazine

October 17, 2021

Reps and Opticians Working Together (ROWT) The backstory: One idea and a blossoming friendship turned into a waterfall of brainstorming when Mikki who is a frame rep, and Chelsea, who is the owner of her own online independent frame company met on Instagram in late winter 2020. Mikki began her career transition from Certified Ophthalmic Assistant to Territory Sales Frame Rep in July 2020 with no background in sales, just a love for eyes. Coming into a new career in the

My Experience Creating a CE Course

September 26, 2021

After I created my first CE course I was reflecting on all of the things I had learned during the process… not to mention all of the content I had come up with to put into the course. I came up with so many great things that I thought it would be a great idea to share with others! Take a look at the process and what I learned by reading my article at Women in Optometry.

20/20 Magazine Article: Everything in One Place

March 30, 2021

WOW! I had the privilege of have the resources of Optician Now featured in 20/20 Magazine! The article touches on my background and mostly shares the variety of resources offered. Read the article: Everything in One Place

INVISION Magazine Article: Optical Resources to Better Yourself

February 15, 2021

For the new year I had the privilege of having Invision Magazine publish an article of mine about bettering yourself in the new year. The article lists a ton of resources on becoming certified at some level. Read the full article here, Better Yourself in 2021 With This Variety of Resources to Advance Your Optical Career.

Hindsight: 2019 turned out how I had hoped

January 6, 2020

I started Optician Now in quarter 4 of 2018. I tried to structure the brand with a solid platform so adding to it as time goes on would be easy. Let me give you a summary of where I began. Website I put a lot of time into researching what opticians search for online. One of the priorities was ABO exam prep so I scoured the internet for resources and put them all in one place. NCLE was not far