In this day and age, when many people are losing jobs, look for the opportunity and go for it. In this episode, Harbir Sian introduces Suzanne Lacorte, the publisher of Optical Prism. Suzanne shares with Harbir how she found herself as the new owner of a publication that has been a staple in the Canadian eyecare market for 40 years. Optical Prism is Canada's leading eyecare industry magazine.
Suzanne Lacorte believes that fate and circumstances come into play when it comes to discovering opportunities. But success is 100% hard work. If you want to succeed in your business, you need to love what you’re doing. Tune in!
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Success Is 100% Hard Work With Suzanne Lacorte Of Optical Prism
Thank you so much for taking the time to join me. I always appreciate all the support. I have one small favor to ask at the beginning of every episode and that is if you do find some value in this episode, please share it. Hit like and review. Hit all the buttons you're supposed to hit to make sure you're supporting the show. Take a screenshot. Put it up on your Instagram story or wherever else to share it with your friends and let them know what you took away from this episode.
I know there is going to be lots of great value. I have an amazing guest, Suzanne Lacorte, who is the brand new Publisher and Owner of Optical Prism magazine, which has been a staple in the Canadian eyecare industry for many years. She has taken the reins. I'm very excited to get into that with her. Thank you, Suzanne, for joining me on the show. I appreciate it.
You're welcome. It's great to be here. Thank you.
I don't know much about magazines and stuff. I read Optical Prism and I subscribed. For me, it's been there. I never thought about who is running it and how does it work. I'd love to dig into that. Before then, why don't we get a little background on yourself? What brought you to this point in your life?
My profession was a graphic designer and art director for magazines. I have been in the magazine industry for years. I used to work for companies like Transcontinental, which were then taken over by Quebecor. They owned magazines like Style At Home magazine, Canadian Living and Elle Canada. I worked for those magazines. That's where I developed my style and my passion for magazines. My experience was women's lifestyle and fashion. That's where I come from. What happened was after years, I decided I wanted to change in the magazine industry.
I went and worked for a downtown technology event company, a festival. I thought I could spread my wings a little and I ended up missing magazines and I loved it so much. What I did is I would always do a couple of freelance magazines on the side like trade magazines. I was looking to pick up a Trade magazine when the previous owners of Optical Prism, Robert and Mary Lu May, were looking for an art director. We hit it off and I ended up doing their magazine for them for years. I started in 2019.
I loved it because it was like playing for me. I would do it on the weekends and I would design the magazine. I worked with their editor, who was this amazing guy called Denis Langlois and then COVID hit. There were advertisers, everyone was terrified, their advertisers pulled out. It was a very frightening time for them as well. They owned the magazine for years. What happened was they called me to say, “We've decided it's time to retire.” With COVID, it was such a scary time. Advertisers didn't know what was going to happen. They were in their 70s.
They have twenty years with the magazine and they decided they were going to close it down. I understood that. I came home and I remember telling my husband and then he goes, “Why don't we take it over?” I was like, “I never thought of that.” I'm used to designing magazines. I've never been the publisher, done the sales or anything like that. We approached them because it seems sad to let a magazine go that's been such a legacy.
It's been in the industry and, such as you said, a staple in the ECP community for almost 40 years and to close it down? I felt that there was still some likes to it. Anyway, so after some negotiating, they were thrilled that I wanted to take it on and keep it going. That's what we did. October 2020 was my first issue taking it over. It was scary because it was COVID and people were not advertising, but a lot of the big companies still supported me throughout the year. We've gone from strength to strength. It's been great. I love it.
I completely understand the previous owner's thought process of they have it for so long. A lot of companies did head in that direction during COVID. It's pretty amazing that you chose to keep this long-lasting staple of the industry alive. To do it during COVID is scary and crazy.
My husband is very entrepreneurial. If it wasn't for him, I would have been too scared. We sat down and looked at it because all of a sudden, I had lost some income. It was like, “If we can at least replace my income, let's pivot. We can do this.” We did. We pivoted and saw an opportunity. In this day and age, a lot of people are losing jobs. We saw an opportunity and we went for it.
That takes a lot of guts. That's one of the things I talk about a lot on the show. It's in the subtitle there, the entrepreneurship aspect of it. I love to have those conversations with my guests because I know that there is somebody else out there who is reading, looking for that little bit of motivation or an extra little bit of courage that will help with their skills.
It's amazing that you guys had the courage to do that and take the leap and take advantage of this opportunity that was in front of you. That's cool. How has it been? The first issue that you published was October 2020. How has that been and what do you feel like you've learned in 2020 since you've taken it?
Optical Prism: A trade magazine doesn't have to be ugly; it can be beautiful.
I've learned so much. First of all, the support has been amazing from the ECP community, readers and advertisers. The previous owners had a twenty-year relationship with our advertisers and clients. To come in as a new person and be introduced, they were so wonderfully supportive of me, which was great. It's been so much fun designing the magazine. I can do what I want. From a design point of view, I can introduce things that I want to introduce or try and new looks. I work closely with Denis, who is my editor. He's been with the company since 2019.
He's got these great relationships already. Between the two of us, we make a good partnership. He comes up with amazing content and then I get the fun part where I get to design the magazine visually. I am the publisher, I am doing the art direction design myself. That's been a lot of fun. I enjoyed doing that, but I've also been able to implement ideas that I had where I saw there was a need for improvement. Denis and I talked in light about this. We felt that the magazine being around for so long, it was time for it to be freshened up a little bit and maybe brought into more of the digital era.
That was one of our mandates. We hired a social media strategist and digital content manager. We've revamped our website. We now do bi-monthly newsletters, eBlasts and social media are huge. That's been one of our biggest mandates is to catch up with the digital side of things. We do print the magazine. It’s still in print after I've got my lease issue here. We do print eight times a year. For the other four times, it's a digital issue. We always have the issue on our website, whether it's print or digital available on the website for all ECPs to go and read. Four of those are strictly digital, not print issues. We have a presence every month of the year. All-year-round.
That's impressive for you to be able to put out an issue every single month. That's a lot of content that you got to have. You guys are doing an incredible job compiling valuable and useful content. It's not just fluff. It's useful stuff. I look at each issue every time I get the email so I know. I was curious. You were mentioning as you came in, you had to build those relationships with the partners and advertisers. Can you talk about that? What did you feel like you had to do to build that confidence and relationship with them and nurture that?
First of all, it was difficult because it’s COVID. It wasn't like I could go and meet people, arrange for lunch or go to Vision Expo and go and meet people. It strictly has been a relationship via email and phone. People were receptive to me. It was new to me. I'm not a salesperson or business person. I'm a small business. Here I am dealing with these large companies, which I didn't have any experience dealing with. I found what works for me is being genuine, being myself, honest, forthright, thanking them and letting them know that I appreciate any advice they can give me and that I’m here to listen.
I want the magazine to be better. I want it to be this great resource for ECPs, but also the advertisers. I knew that I had a lot to learn and they were amazing. Just be forthright and ask them. I find that people are very receptive to that. We're all craving for connection, too. I found that I was able to connect with people with my story and ask for their advice. People were always willing to be helpful and want to share their experiences. That's what I’ve done.
It sounds simple. Be authentic and be kind. Those things do work. I agree with you that most people out there want to help if you ask them kindly and nicely. People are willing to go out of their way if they think that you're genuinely trying to do or build something. That's been my experience. There will be people out there who maybe don't want to, but for the most part, I get that. That's cool. That's been your experience as well.
That's important information for somebody out there who is trying to build a company or brand. I talked about how important networking is to create opportunities for yourself out there. Talking to other optometrists, for example, who want to get into lecturing, speaking or other opportunities working with industry, get out there and do that. Be kind. Let your presence be known and people eventually will start to try to help you. That's pretty cool.
Let your personality come through. I am the worst at networking. I get very uncomfortable in those kinds of situations, which people find surprising because I come across as very social. It's a bit out of my comfort zone, but you're right. If you're just yourself, a genuine, it'll go a long way. People appreciate it for sure.
What is the day-to-day look like for you then as you're now running this magazine, the owner and publisher? What's the average day or week? Can you run us through what types of things you're meeting or things that you're doing?
We have a monthly schedule because I've got six people on my team. Denis is amazing at getting the best content. He is the brains behind it from that point of view. I also have an associate editor, David Goldberg and they've both been journalists for years. Denis with newspapers and David in the television industry. They are always working months ahead looking for interesting industries, stories and interests, which can sometimes be difficult because the timing is everything. Everybody wants information right away now.
We come up with what's called an editorial theme for the year where each month, Denis will research what themes are going to be relevant throughout the year and what would be of interest to ECPs and advertisers. Maybe there is a certain time of the year that they're promoting certain new launches, collections, new technology lenses or vision health month things like that. We try to time our content with those themes. Denis is working behind the scenes months ahead of me. Primarily what he does is I get the content the first week of the month. My day is getting up, dealing first with clients, administration and emails. We do a lot of eBlasts, quotes and things like that.
I usually get to sync in and do some design work toward the end of the day, which is the time that it's like playing for me. That's my favorite part is when Denis gives me all the content and we've sourced beautiful images and I get to design the magazine. Put it all together and make it look beautiful, but still make sure it's relevant. That's what my day is dealing mostly with clients, which again, it's all new to me. It's been a great learning experience. Outside of my comfort zone for sure.
Optical Prism: Optical Prism wants to hear from its readers because it wants to know what they want to read and what they’re passionate about.
That's amazing that you're willing to go that far out of your comfort zone and you're making it comfortable slowly over time. I like to ask people, what is it you would be doing when you find yourself in your flow state? When you're doing something you love so much that you forget about the outside world, what is that for you?
I am so fortunate that I love what I do and get in my zone when designing. It's my happy place. I have no issues working. It sounds bad working until 7:00, 8:00 or 9:00 at night. If I'm in my happy zone, I put my music on, I'm looking at all this beautiful content and images. That's my happy place. I'm fulfilled when I do that. When I took over the magazine, I realized that I come from a fashion world and this is not a fashion magazine, it's a trade magazine. To me, a trade magazine doesn't have to be ugly. It can be beautiful.
Especially when the advertisers we have in our magazine spent a lot of money on beautiful photography, ads and their collections. To me, the magazine should be at least equal in beauty to show off those ads as well, but it's also the content. The content is so important because I have to always remember my readership and that's the ECPs. We will have a lot of beautiful images and collections, but we also have a lot of great content. That is what we're focusing on this 2021, bringing more content. We have a great collaboration with marketing for ECP.
We always have a marketing article that's great and gives great advice to ECPs on how to get their business running and marketing themselves. We have a colleague of ours called Nancy Dewald. She is joining us in 2022 collaborating and doing an article for us every month on business, the business side of ECPs. She was the interim CEO of Eye Recommend. She’s agreed to write articles for us giving advice to all the ECPs out there that are running a business because you're not just running a practice, you're running a business. I felt that was something that was missing in the magazine.
I wanted to add content with the technology surrounding the eyewear and the medical side and on how to run a business and market yourself. People want to hear about their colleagues. We usually always do an article on the next generation. There is a lot of young people that are coming up. It's important for us to try to attract the younger ECPs as well. That's our mandate to become a beautiful magazine, but that's the go-to resource.
Eyecare is interesting. It is a blend of all of those things. Some industries are going to be like, “They talk about technology or they just are art.” Eyecare has this interesting blend of artistic and aesthetic, with the frames, the medical side and technology. There are a lot of people like myself who are nerdy and like to geek out on a lot of the nitty-gritty details, reread articles and research papers.
There are so many different facets that you have to try to bring into your magazine, but I guess at the same time, it also gives you an opportunity to have more content of different types. That's cool to see. You've been running this magazine, you've been digging into the eye care industry. What would you say you've learned about the eye care optical industry in 2020 that you didn't know before? Maybe some big concept that you weren't so aware of before you started this?
I wasn't so aware of the lack of government support. That is something that was a shock to me. That I would say is the biggest thing for me. Eyecare is so vital. I find it very upsetting that eyecare professionals are not getting the support they need because it's such a vital service to Canadians. That was tough for me to open my eyes and realize the seriousness of that situation. I had no idea.
From our perspective as eyecare professionals, what should we be doing to enhance or improve that? Did you see anything there that you could suggest?
I could do at this point owning a magazine is to start putting articles out there about the issues and helping people get their message across. Even do some surveys to find out what people are thinking and encourage them to get in touch with their MPs.
Awareness is where it all starts. The education and awareness, that is a good answer. For the average person out there the question that most people ask, “Why does it matter to me?” I remember speaking to my friends years ago when this big deregulation happened here in BC, where eyecare was deregulated and you can buy glasses online. I was out there pounding the pavement, trying to talk to everybody I knew about why this was such a terrible thing.
The question a lot of people would say is, “What's it in it for me?” For the average person, “Isn't it better now that I can go buy my glasses wherever?” That you have to create that education and awareness of like, “Here is the downside for the average patient and all other people out there.” Why do politicians want to listen? Why should they listen? That's a great answer. It's nice to know that we have somebody in our corner who's got such a great resource. Whoever is reading, write or email in and let us know what Optical Prism can do on behalf of ECPs across Canada.
I want to hear from our readers because I want to know what they want to be reading about and what they're passionate about and feel is lacking in the magazine or what they want to see more of because it is for them.
Optical Prism: Optical Prism wants to keep improving and make a better product.
We talked about the things you learned about the optical industry that there is not a lot of support from the government. I know I put you on the spot. They’re asking you what you think we could do to change that. As an industry, as a whole, we should be trying to continue to advance and move with the times. Are there other things that you see as in your position as the publisher?
Again, it's all new to me as well. Especially with COVID, the need for ECPs to do virtual appointments. The challenges that you're up against now. It's a different world. How do you conduct business? I don't have enough experience to comment, but from what I'm seeing, I see that's a huge challenge and that business is having to pivot, change and shift. I don't think that face-to-face is ever going to go away. We need that connection and contact. There is still something to be said for the one-on-one, going in, trying on your frames and having someone to even style them for you. That's one of the biggest challenges that you guys are facing, too. How to conduct your business in this virtual world?
You hit the nail on the head there. We’re in this weird limbo middle thing where we don't know where the virtual site is going, but we know we should be on top of it. The people out there who are willing to change and evolve continually will be the ones who succeed in the long term. There will probably be some hybrid who will still do the in-person. Some of it commoditized maybe the cheaper frames and things like that.
You can do that virtually online, but maybe the in-office experience becomes more of a high-level boutique experience because you don't have to deal with that volume type of business. It'll be interesting to see where it goes. I was interested to hear what you've seen in your position because you're seeing the industry from a different perspective, almost like a bird's eye view. We're in it and we got blinders on a lot of the time.
The demand for eyeglasses and frames, it's huge. It has become one of the most number one fashion accessories, not just to see, but the fashion accessory aspect with us on Zoom calls and constantly on our phones. Leaps and bounds. People are passionate.
I wish I could go back or maybe speak with the previous publisher and owner of the magazine. I'm curious what it was like in this position years ago. I remember when I was a kid many years ago, glasses were not cool. You’re four eyes and a nerd. Now it's like, “Cool glasses. I want glasses. Even if I don't need a prescription, I want to wear glasses.” I'm like, “When did this change and how did it change?” Now it's super interesting to be in the industry, but what was it like then? Was it boring back then in the ‘80s or ‘90s when eyeglasses were not as fashionable? I guess we're lucky to be in it now. It's interesting like that.
The woman I have on my issue coming up in November 2021, Wendy Buchanan, I don't know if you've heard of her, but she is an eyewear stylist. We have a great article on her. She focuses on meeting with people. She'll go to their home, one-on-one, and she will bring her cases lots of frames. She will fit several pairs to them to their personalities, outfits and all aspects of their lives. You've got people buying multiple pairs of glasses for their different needs and different personality or work situation. She's come up with this incredible styling and selling technique. You'll have to look out for it in our next issue because it's interesting.
I like that teaser. I'm very interested to read about that and learn more about her because that right there is to your point, the in-person aspect is not going away anytime soon. That's a perfect shining example. Most of us are worried, “Everything is going to go online and I'm going to lose all my in-person interactions.” There is somebody who is specifically digging into that in-person or one-on-one. That's cool. We can all learn from that.
Maybe we can't go into people's houses and do our business that way, but we can learn from that and improve the experience in the office and make it feel more one-on-one like that. That's interesting. I’m looking forward to reading that one in the November 2021 issue. I'd leave it open to you now because there are a couple of questions. I always ask every guest at the end of every episode. Any other topics you'd like to discuss or any other messages you'd like to share from your position?
I'm so honored to be part of this industry. I'm so grateful for the opportunity. I want to keep improving and make a better product. I want to hear from ECPs and what they want to read about. That's my wish. We have a great year coming up. We've got some great ideas for themes. This 2021, I want to do a women's issue where we're going to focus on women in optometry and women like Wendy Buchanan and optometrists and ophthalmologists. I'm excited about that, rather than your typical theme of sunglasses. We will be doing sunglasses. You have to have sunglasses.
We're going to do a diversity issue. It's such a strong issue. As ECPs, I would think it's a challenge in fitting different ethnic faces. We thought that would be a great topic to address. I know there are some companies out there that provide frames for smaller faces and things like that. That's an issue we're excited about in introducing.
We've got a lot of great ideas. I'm excited about taking it one more step and continuing to grow. I'm so excited to finally meet people. I have not been to one of the Vision Expos yet because of COVID. I couldn't travel. I'm excited about March 2022 and then I'll have the opportunity to go out to meet a lot of my clients, colleagues and people in person. I'm super excited about that.
I went to a Vision Expo in Vegas and it was amazing. It was cool and weird at the same time because you're like, “It's COVID and I have to be careful.” At the same time, it's like, “Let me hug you.” I look forward to hopefully seeing you in New York. That might be the first time we meet in person. I like that you’re stressing that you want people to share their feedback and help you give an idea. You want to learn about what people want to hear about and see. How can people connect? How do they reach out to you directly or the magazine?
If you go to our website OpticalPrism.ca, you can email us from there. Also, email Info@OpticalPrism.ca or my email, which is SLacorte@OpticalPrism.ca. Our email is also on the masthead of the magazine. I would love to hear from people. We want to make a better product and a resource for ECPs. I would love feedback and suggestions. That would be great.
Optical Prism: If you love what you do, you'll be successful.
There are two questions I like to ask every guest at the end of the episode. The first of those two is if you could hop in a time machine and go back to a point in your life that was a challenge or something difficult, you can share that specific experience if you'd like, but more importantly, what advice would you give to yourself at that time?
It would be during my university years. My advice would be to follow your passion. Don't just go with the flow because that's what everybody expects you to do. Don't follow the road that everyone does. Looking back, it was expected that I would go to a university. I should've gone to college to become a graphic designer or something artistic because I was creative. Fortunately, I fell into the graphic design world and art directing. I was meant to do it because I fell into it in other ways. I would have advised myself to go with your heart and what you love, your passion.
The last question then is everything that you've accomplished and achieved so far, how much of it would you say is due to luck and hard work?
Honestly, it's 100% hard work. Fate and circumstances come into things because if I hadn’t been in certain places, I wouldn't have met the owners of this magazine and if COVID hadn't hit. My husband and I, we worked hard at this magazine, but we love it. That shows. If you love what you do, you're going to be successful.
Thank you very much for that thoughtful answer. There’s a lot of hard work. Whichever answer the guest gives like somebody will answer and then be like, “But, well.” I love that part where you can see the wheels turning and hear the candid response. Thank you very much for that. Thank you again for joining me on the show. I appreciate it. I love learning about this part of our industry.
Optical Prism has always been there. I never thought about like, “Where did it come from? Who started it and who's making this thing work?” It's cool to see and learn about what's happening behind the scenes. I’m glad to have you as part of our industry. It's nice to see how passionate you are about it. Thank you so much.
It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for sharing your show with us as well. We appreciate it because we love the content. Again, part of our mandate is to become more current and offer all kinds of content to ECPs and you’re a big part of that. Thank you.
Thank you for that opportunity. In case anybody's not aware, the show is now available to listen to at Optical Prism. It’s humbling and amazing for me to have my show available on such an amazing platform. Thank you for that opportunity. I know it's going to be beneficial to me. I hope it's mutually beneficial for both of us and it helps Optical Prism grow and reach more people. It's awesome.
I don't see how it can't help because you're great. We're featuring you on our cover in December 2021. I'm very excited about it, too.
That's even more incredible and humbly, I'm a little anxious about that to be on the cover of a magazine. Thank you very much. Look out for that one. December 2021 issue of Optical Prism. Thank you again, Suzanne. I appreciate it.
Thank you. It’s a pleasure.
Thank you to everybody who is reading and for all the support. We'll see you again in the next episode.
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About Suzanne Lacorte
With over 20 years of experience in the magazine industry working with brands such as Elle Canada, Canadian Living, and L’Oreal, Suzanne Lacorte brings a new perspective to the eyecare industry as the owner and publisher of Optical Prism.