About Cindy

A little about me

Teacher, mentor, and fellow student, sometimes all in one day.

I'm an optician licensed in Florida, a leader, a lifelong learner, and someone who genuinely enjoys helping others succeed.

I've been the apprentice and the mentor, the student and the teacher. I've experienced leadership from both sides, and believe me, I've got stories.

Outside of work, I'm a wife, mother of four daughters, grandmother, writer, reader, and cyclist.

Meet the founder

Cindy Richman

I'm Cynthia Richman. Most people call me Cindy. I'm still managing and working as a licensed optician here in Florida. I've been in optics since 1985 and licensed since 1992. I started in optics at Pearle Vision when I was 17. Over all these years I've done two things at once. I've done the optical work as well as I could, and I've helped the people around me learn and grow. I've done every part of this business myself. Retail, the work at the dispensing table, management, lab work, and inventory. All of it, because I've lived all of it.

My home life has shaped the way I think and decide just as much as my work and my school have. Rob and I took turns being home when our girls were young, and raising four daughters taught me to slow down, listen first, and remember there's always more to a person than what I see on the surface. I come from a family of readers and teachers. My mother and grandmother always had a book in hand, and my grandfather taught agriculture and believed education could change a life. That stayed with me. The way I lead, the way I teach, and the way I take care of people all come from the same place.

My teaching does not come from work alone. It also comes from school. I'm in the final stretch of my MBA in Human Resources Management at the University of West Florida. I'm an MBA candidate, with my degree expected in December 2026. I'm also SHRM-CP certified, and I earned my bachelor's degree in Organizational Management. Put together, that means what I teach comes from both sides. More than 40 years of hands on optical and leadership work, plus formal study in human resources and management. One side keeps me honest about real life on the job. The other side helps me teach it clearly and fairly.

My leadership writing comes from real stories, too. One of them is The Cruise Director, about an apprentice I helped grow into a sales supervisor while I protected him from coaching that only looked at numbers. I wrote about lessons like that in my trade article, Help! I've Been Promoted!, for 20/20 Magazine's Pro to Pro.

The human side of my work starts at home. I'm married to Rob, and we raised four daughters together. When my girls were young, Rob and I took turns being home. I worked part time through their elementary and early middle school years so I could be part of school life. I volunteered as a reading mentor, I coached Odyssey of the Mind, and I spent marching band seasons working concession stands and going on road trips. All those years of helping kids read, create, compete, and find their confidence are behind my children's books at Mires Press, too. I write and illustrate them from the same place my courses come from. Real life, real kids, and a lot of showing up.

Licensed Optician, Florida
Licensed since November 4, 1992. License No. DO3915. In optics since 1985.

Still doing the work
I'm still managing and working as a licensed optician in Florida, so I teach from today's work, not old memories.

MBA Candidate in Human Resources Management
University of West Florida, degree expected December 2026. My bachelor's degree is a B.A.S. in Organizational Management from EFSC, earned in 2023.

SHRM-CP Certified
Certified in human resources through SHRM. I also completed Yale's Science of Well-Being course in 2020.

I'm the author of Lead Like Yourself and the Mires Press children's series. I write for 20/20 Pro to Pro, and I've served for a long time on the board of my local Professional Opticians of Florida chapter. Everything I do here, the teaching, the leadership work, the books, and the standards I set, comes from both sides of my life, the hands on work and the formal study.