Optical Women's Association - 2008 OWA Pleiades Honoree

De Long of Eyecare Business honored at Ninth Annual Pleiades Award Event

Stephanie K. De Long, a 22-year veteran of the optical industry, was honored as this year's recipient of the ninth annual Pleiades Award. This award will be presented by the Optical Women's Association (OWA) on Friday April 11th at the Marchon showroom. Festivities begin at 6 p.m. and the award was presented at 6:45 p.m.

Stephanie has been editor-in-chief of Eyecare Business, a Pennsylvania-based Wolters Kluwer publication, since 1990. She is a founding Board member of the OWA, a member of Vision Council of America's Strategic Communications Committee, a recipient of the OLA's Directors' Choice Award and Folio's Editorial Excellence Award (EB took first place honors in the retail trade magazine category). She is also a frequent speaker at International Vision Expos.

Before entering optical, De Long was a business writer, editor, and contributor to a variety of consumer and business publications, including Madison Avenue, Manhattan Inc., Management Technology, and the New Jersey Star Ledger. She was also co-owner and operator of an award-winning restaurant in Rye, New York. De Long is a graduate of Wells College in Aurora, New York, and began her career as a public relations writer for IBM. She lives in Lincoln, NE, with husband Ron, whom she met in the optical industry, and has one daughter, Heather, and a granddaughter, Ella, who live in CT.

The Pleiades Award spotlights an individual who has shown commitment to the mission of the OWA by fostering the growth of women in the industry. This award is named for the star cluster Pleiades in the Taurus constellation and is also known at the "Seven Sisters" referring to the seven brightest stars.