26 Apr 2026 5 min read Wellbeing

Beyond The Exam Room: Dr. Shaina Nensi on Impact and Leading with Purpose

What does it look like when your career isn't just a job but a vehicle for something bigger?

That's the question I kept thinking of when I sat down with Dr. Shaina Nensi on my podcast.

Her CV reads like a highlight reel: Ontario Association of Optometrists president, practice owner, BV specialist, and eyecare provider for an Indigenous fly-in community.

But what struck me most in our conversation wasn't the list of accomplishments; it was her overflowing passion for her work, whether that's being OAO president, practice owner, or providing eyecare for an underserved community.

Losing the Election

Shaina was our optometry class president (and a fantastic one at that), so I wasn't surprised when she became the OAO president.

But Shaina shared that her path to the OAO presidency wasn't a straight line.

She ran for the board just one year out of residency and lost.

"That experience really stuck with me," she admitted. "I debated, is this just not the right advocacy platform for me? Did people not like my platform?"

She considered stepping back, but she realized that the new grads had the most skin in the game. The upcoming changes in scope, billing, and access to care would shape their next 30 to 40 years of practice most directly.

So she ran again. She campaigned harder and with more intention. She was elected that year, and she's been serving on the board since.

However, what followed wasn't a victory lap; it was a reality check.

"As a newer member, I came in with guns blazing. Yes, we can do this, let's do it, let's go!"

But she quickly learned that real change takes time. "You have to build trust and credibility with others, and all of that takes time. I learned that leadership is less about having the loudest voice and more about listening — especially to perspectives that are different from your own."

It's a humbling thing to hear from someone at the top of our profession. And I think that humility is precisely what makes her a great leader.

On Imposter Syndrome

On the topic of imposter syndrome, Shaina opened up honestly:

"Even sitting as president of the association, there are times I have to remind myself when I walk into a room (with people like Doug Ford) that I am the expert here about optometry and access to eyecare."

"I'm also not sure the imposter syndrome is something that ever goes away. I don't even feel 100% confident in the exam room at times. But I do know that my intentions are in the right place, and that's what I lead with."

It was evident that everything she did in work and life was driven by purpose, strongly rooted in her "why".

Flying in to Fill the Gap

One of the most fascinating parts of our conversation came when Shaina described her work in Kasabonika Lake — a fly-in Indigenous community in northern Ontario.

It's a "fly-in" community because outside of the one winter month where lake is frozen solid, there's no ground access to the community. Everything has to be flown in and out.

Shaina packs her full kit — trial lenses, a handheld autorefractor, BIO, panoptic, a portable slit lamp — and runs 12-hour clinic days in a borrowed dentistry room with paper charts on the wall.

She brings roughly 150 pairs of glasses on every trip. She measures, selects frames, brings the data back to Toronto, and sends back the finished lenses.

There's no ophthalmologist, and no optical stores. To the people of Kasabonika, Shaina provides indispensable eyecare services that make a real difference in their everyday lives.

"It really changed how I understood access to care," she reflected. "It showed me that there is this unmet need and true access issues in our own backyard in Ontario."

The "Passion Bubble"

Near the end of our conversation, I asked Shaina what allows her to create a career that feels so uniquely aligned with who she is.

"I only take on things I'm truly passionate about. And it doesn't feel as overwhelming because if I'm staying up late to work on a brief for an MPP meeting, I'm passionate about what I'm doing. If I'm waking up at 5:45 because that's when my daughter wakes up and we get to read together — I'm passionate about being a mom. Everything is just this... big passion bubble."

She laughed at her own phrasing. But she was right.

For Shaina, work and life were not separate entities. It was just life, and she only filled it with things that drove her purpose.

My co-host, Riyad, said it best:

"Burnout isn't always solved by working less. Sometimes it's solved by working on the things that truly matter to you. The sense of control over your own path may be the real key to happiness."

What Work Happiness Means to Her

When I asked Shaina what work happiness means to her right now, she paused for a moment.

"Work happiness to me is a feeling of being useful, connected, and at peace with how I spend my energy and time. It's more about the impact than the optics of what my day-to-day looks like. It's more about the level of purpose I feel than the productivity I might have."

Useful. Connected. At peace.

I keep coming back to those words. They don't require a president title or a fly-in clinic. They're available to anyone — at any stage, in any role — who's willing to ask honestly whether what they're doing aligns with who they are.

Shaina's career is a reminder that optometry doesn't have to be just the exam room. By leading with purpose, it can be a platform for so much more.

Full podcast episode:

Dr. Shaina Nensi is the owner of Avenue Optometry and Vision Therapy in Toronto, president of the Ontario Association of Optometrists, and a provider of eye care to Indigenous and underserved communities in Ontario. Connect with her through the OAO or Avenue Optometry.

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