Mompreneurs: Redefining Luxury Eyewear With Nancey Harris And Tracy Green
On this episode of the Mompreneurs podcast, Nancey Harris and Tracy V. Green share their inspiring journey as the founders of Vontélle Eyewear. Established in 2019, the luxury eyewear brand redefines traditional eyewear by offering glasses designed for a diverse clientele.
The co-founders joined Mompreneurs host Nancy Redd to tell their story as two moms who built a thriving business from the ground up — from launching their business just as the global pandemic put the world on pause, to balancing business and motherhood.
Since launching in 2019, Vontélle continues to grow beyond a vision, with its thoughtfully designed eyeglasses now available in Saks Fifth Avenue, America’s Best, Sam’s Club, Walmart, Amazon and independent eyewear retailers across the U.S.
Vontélle’s mission is to design better-fitting glasses for diverse people.
Nancey and Tracy started their entrepreneurial journey after discovering an untapped niche in the eyewear market: glasses designed to fit diverse faces. “The eyewear industry focuses on fashion, but they disregard fit and function,” said Nancey.
“Our designs are made for people with diverse features,” said Tracy, who received her first pair of glasses at the age of 12. The former CFO understood the struggle of finding eyewear that is both comfortable and stylish. “Glasses should not be painful,” added Nancey, whose mother developed “permanent indentation scarring” on her nose due to her ill-fitting frames.
They recognized that the eyewear industry had settled on a one-size-fits-all approach to designing and manufacturing eyeglasses. “The glasses in the industry right now focus on petite and narrow bridges,” Nancey explained. “We’ve just accepted what the industry has given us as a standard. But we’re not standard, we’re not monolithic.”
Nancey and Tracy flew to Paris, France to do their own market research at a global eyewear expo. After three days of exploring the massive gathering of eyewear designers, manufacturers, and everyone in between, they came to a realization. “We didn’t see anyone there that looked like us making glasses or designing glasses,” Nancey said.
The friends and business partners realized that the demand for glasses that fit comfortably on diverse features was massive. “We learned quickly that this is not a singular issue,” Nancey said. “It affects all people from various diverse backgrounds.”
“We’re not being represented,” said Tracy. “They’re not making glasses for our features. And that’s when we decided, let’s try it. Let’s just see if we can do it.”
“I wanted to add culture to the glasses. Tracy was interested in the better size, better fitting,” said Nancey. “We wanted glasses that represented the culture.”
They took a leap of faith and launched their business.
Inspired by their shared vision, Vontélle Eyewear was born. The following year, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a standstill. But Nancey and Tracy forged ahead, working with their manufacturer through WhatsApp and Zoom. By October 2020, they launched Vontélle’s official website.
Despite walking away from successful careers, neither Nancey nor Tracy regretted their decision. “You’re worth the risk,” said Nancey, “The amount of time and effort that you put into making other companies successful and rich, you can do the same thing for yourself.”
The mompreneurs leaned on their village to spread the word about Vontélle, which opened doors to crucial opportunities including a licensing deal with Nickelodeon and getting Vontélle Eyewear in Saks Fifth Avenue department stores. “Your network is your net worth,” said Nancey. “They are the ones that will help spread the fire.”
Nancey and Tracy followed every lead and seized every opportunity to put their brand out there. The co-founders believed in their mission and reached out to anyone and everyone who would listen. “We didn’t wait for people to call us,” said Tracy. “Don’t be shy or afraid to ask. And if they say ‘no,’ don’t take it personally. Just keep going back.”
Their persistence paid off and set Vontélle on the path to success. The following year, 2022, “ended up being a phenomenal year for us,” said Nancey. Four years later, Vontélle Eyewear can be purchased in Saks, America’s Best, Sam’s Club, Walmart, Amazon and independent retailers across the country. “That ‘little eyewear business’ is now in 900 stores nationwide with America’s Best. We are in Saks Fifth Avenue. We have grown the brand to a seven-figure company,” Tracy affirmed.
Source: Courtesy of Nancey Harris And Tracy Green / Courtesy of Nancey Harris And Tracy Green
They balanced business and motherhood.
Even as Nancey and Tracy built accomplished careers followed by a thriving business, they never stopped being moms. “Being a mom is a 24/7 job,” Tracy said. “No matter what, you’re going to be working as a mom all the time. You have to just carve out time for what is important to you.”
Her son Jackson was just starting college when she and Nancey launched Vontélle Eyewear. Now in his early twenties, the young artist is embarking on his own venture. “He’s always seen his mom as a boss because I was a CFO,” Tracy said. “But for him to see that I was successful in that realm and successful in my own business, he’s stepping out to be an entrepreneur as well.”
Nancey’s son, nine-year-old Gabriel, could not be happier with his mom’s new gig as co-founder and COO of Vontélle. Although she continues to work long hours, working from home allows the busy mom to spend more time with her son. “It’s something that I’m afforded that I would not have been able to do in my previous life, so I’m grateful for it,” said Nancey.
‘Don’t be afraid to bet on yourself.’
The key to Vontélle Eyewear’s success has been leaning on their support system, making connections, and betting on themselves. “Don’t be afraid to bet on yourself,” said Tracy. “It won’t happen overnight. It’s taken us a couple of years to get here. But we bet on ourselves and we pushed through.”
Catch new episodes of Mompreneurs every Monday on MADAMENOIRE’s YouTube channel. Or listen to the podcast online at Urban1Podcasts.com.
