The OWA would like to thank our generous Platinum Sponsors for all they do to support our organization and its mission to enhance and promote the leadership role of women in the optical industry. In our OWA Spotlight series, we feature female leaders from our Platinum Sponsors.
In this issue, we highlight the recent accomplishments of two women at Zyloware, Gilda Mehraban and Jackie Janiec. Zyloware has announced the promotions of Gilda Mehraban and Jackie Janiec to vice president corporate accounts and business development, and vice president of marketing, respectively.
As part of the Global Sales team at Zyloware, Mehraban, promoted to vice president corporate accounts and business development, will provide a focus on strategic opportunities within the U.S. and Canadian markets. During her time at Zyloware, Mehraban has developed specialized expertise in key account and chain management with an eye on brand building.
In the past, Mehraban has worked as director of business development for De Rigo REM, managing and developing the company's key accounts channel of distribution across the U.S. and Canada. Prior to that, Mehraban had been the head of brand marketing, overseeing the major brands in their eyewear portfolio.
Previously, Mehraban was the director of business affairs and legal counsel for CMG Worldwide as an attorney focused on intellectual property protection and licensing. In that role, she was involved in marketing and creating licensing opportunities for approximately 200 entertainment, music, sports, and historical properties, including Marilyn Monroe and James Dean.
We asked Gilda a few questions about career growth and work-life balance:
What advice do you have for other OWA members who might be working towards their next career goal?
Focus on developing your skill sets in areas that don't necessarily feel like work. Are there parts of your role that you can do where the hours fly by? Or, conversely, are there things you work on that hurt your head when you're done? Don't work towards a role where all you do is that! For me, working on contracts drains my brain, so that's why I left the legal field and focused on branding and sales. Meeting with customers and developing eyewear lines or building assortments with customers makes me feel like I'm getting away with something — it's so fun for me! Once you know where you thrive, it's a little easier to see your career plan from there and you can express exactly what you want to be doing, which helps others help get you there too.
How have you established work-life boundaries when working from home?
The easiest thing that works for me is to stick to a routine. I wake up at the same time every morning, start with my morning coffee and a crossword game to wake up my brain. It's not the greatest thing to do but I always check my email on my phone first thing since I'm in LA working with mostly east coasters. I like to make sure nothing is on fire before I start the day. I try to make sure I step away from the computer and take my lunch at the same time if possible and go outside for a quick walk or even just stand in the sun for 5 minutes. I try to stick to a schedule as though I were in the office, which means actually closing the computer at the end of the work day; otherwise you can just keep working and home and work blur into one thing.
Jackie Janiec has been promoted to vice president of marketing, where she will continue her oversight of Zyloware's B2B and B2C marketing initiatives. Janiec joined Zyloware over 14 years ago, and is a creative and dynamic marketer who thrives on building long-term relationships with customers by offering a fresh perspective on sales and marketing strategies to support their long-term growth and flourish in this ever-evolving marketplace.
Janiec graduated from Hofstra University with a BA in marketing and received her Certification in Executive Life Coaching from NYU. She credits her multi-faceted marketing and people skills to her leadership role as supervisor of Roy Rogers at 16 years old. Working in fast-food at a young age taught Jackie the foundations of customer service, leading teams, prioritizing tasks, and profit building strategies that she still uses to this day.
We asked Jackie a few questions about leadership and mentoring:
How do you mentor other women to grow into leadership roles?
By sharing experiences, knowledge, and resources all while pointing them in a beneficial direction to meet their potential. Creating a safe, judgment-free zone for the mentee to learn, make mistakes, and grow.
Plus, for me, I always learn just as much from the mentee. We all have gifts, talents, and skills to share.
How would you describe your leadership style / focus?
Turning to the words of Brene Brown, she defines a leader as anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and has the courage to develop that potential.
Within that, from my experience, "courage to develop that potential" is where people get tripped up and fall short of a leader. However, through my education at NYU Executive Coaching Certification and my own personal growth and development journey, I embrace courage through curiosity and presence. From my perspective, this means asking the uncomfortable or challenging questions that stretch others to reach their potential, being present to actively listen to answers, and showing vulnerability by being ok in not knowing an answer.
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