Kristen Nwanyanwu, MD, MBA, MHS, is a retina surgeon, associate professor of ophthalmology, and the principal investigator for an NIH-funded diabetic retinopathy lab at Yale. She also has two masters’ degrees and two kids.
When she isn’t seeing patients, conducting research, or reading bedtime stories, she is running her own business. As a young surgeon looking to project professionalism, she felt her travel-worn ophthalmic lens case wasn’t doing the trick. When a thorough search turned up no better options, this entrepreneur decided to found a luxury case brand for ophthalmic lenses, Eyeful (eyeful.com).
She explained that Eyeful is a lifestyle brand that is all about making cases and spaces—encouraging and nourishing spaces that people want to be in. “Growing that part of the business has been an awesome journey,” she noted. “It is something that’s near and dear to me that I wouldn’t have been able to do if I hadn’t decided that my case was ugly.”
Finding time for this passion is challenging, but it has been rewarding in ways she never saw coming. She relayed a story of her 5-year-old daughter water-coloring a small lens case, which is washable paper. “It’s gorgeous, and after, she turned to me and said, ‘Mommy, this is our family business, and you can tell everyone that I also paint lens cases.’”
It was a liberating moment, as Dr. Nwanyanwu realized that the business, which takes time from her family, is also teaching her children that they can be entrepreneurs.
“Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart,” she admitted, “but surgeons are generally entrepreneurial—they design new instruments, run their own practices, and even have side businesses, like my own.”
Dr. Nwanyanwu encouraged retina specialists to listen to the voice that keeps coming up, but also explore just how important the idea is to them. If it’s important, it’s worth the time it takes, she said.
