DALLAS—The Optical Women’s Association will host ELEVATE, an innovate virtual event sponsored by Luxottica, tonight, September 17, at 7:30 p.m. ET. The event honors 2020 Pleiades Award honoree Millicent Knight, OD, Essilor of America; Pyxis Award honoree Jean Sabre of Uptown Vision; and Visionary Award honoree Sheena Taff, @OpticianAboutTown. It is open to both OWA members and non-members alike, and will feature keynote speaker Paula Calise, 2020 founder and principal at Linked Executive Search. Calise is on the Forbes "Top 10 Best Recruiters in the U.S." list, and is a professional branding expert. The OWA said, “Her experience and enthusiasm for ‘The Art of Hello,’ will help all of us create the perfect professional introduction."

After hearing hundreds and hundreds of generic personal introductions, Calise developed a program to help people improve and create a memorable answer to the question "what do you do?" During her presentation, she will provide the background, tips and rules along with a three-step methodology that results in a professional brand introduction.

In addition, the OWA will host an online auction to support its activities and professional development goals. The auction will run from 12:00 p.m. PT Sunday, Sept. 20 to 7:00 p.m. Friday Sept. 25, and the website is now open for previewing. Interested bidders can also register to bid now, and bidding will be open to everyone, OWA member or not, and available from anywhere simply by using your mobile device. Available items include travel packages, jewelry, designer handbags, electronics, designer eyewear and gift cards.

Interested attendees can register for ELEVATE online for free. A Zoom link will be sent out before the event.