International Women’s Day: An Interview with Leslie Youngstrom

Leslie Youngstrom is the Director of Product, Platform, & Operations for VSP Vision's™  eCommerce site, eyeconic.com®. Her eCommerce career began in 1995 when she launched the very first auto insurance website in the industry; Progressive.com. Leslie’s career journey has been multifaceted and allowed her to be involved in all aspects of the eCommerce lifecycle including product management, user experience, site redesigns, platform development, technology innovation, and revenue growth.

Leslie gets excited by opportunities to understand customers and how best to deliver technology and a user experience that meets their needs, solves problems, as well as drives value to the business. Her personal mantra is “Actions speak louder than words” and she seeks to live by this on a daily basis. She also really enjoys collaborating with her exceptional teams.

Leslie is inspired daily by her husband and their two adult children, all of whom are educators. In her free time, she enjoys baking, crafts, as well as hanging out with her 13-year-old rescue Malshipoo and watching British murder mysteries.

In honor of International Women’s day, we sat down with Leslie and talked to her about her time working in eCommerce.

• How long have you worked at Eyeconic ®? 11 years 
• Can you tell us a little about what initially brought you to the company? I was recruited from an insurance software company to join VSP. Once I learned about VSP and its mission-based philosophy, I knew it would be a good fit. Plus, knowing that Eyeconic was new and that I could help implement vision benefit integration as well as platform stability and revenue growth, it was very intriguing and exciting.
• What does a Director of Product, Platform, & Operations do? I'm responsible for features and functionality that Eyeconic has on the site as well as the run the business efforts for the site and operations. 
• What’s your favorite thing about your role? I enjoy leading my highly collaborative team where we build and improve the purchasing experience for VSP members to utilize their insurance benefits for eyewear.
• Did you encounter any gender-related challenges in your career? Early on in my career, when eCommerce was just beginning, it was difficult to gain support from various leaders to build and develop a website to sell goods and services. It was all so new and foreign to most people, and while that can be exciting, it can also make others uncomfortable because they didn’t understand how it all worked. It was even more challenging being a women in my late 20s trying to gain the trust and support from seasoned executives.
• How did you navigate them? It was during this time in my career where I adopted the mantra, “Actions speak louder than words." Being able to deliver on what you have agreed to helps to build trusting relationships and that has allowed me to navigate many career challenges.
• Who are some women who inspire you, and why? My mom has always been a significant inspiration and influence on my life and career. As a divorced, single mom in the 1970s, she experienced so many challenges and gracefully overcame them with a lot of hard work and dedication. She provided me with so much love, support, and opportunity throughout the years that I was able to take personal and professional risks while always knowing if something didn’t work out as planned that she would be there for me.
• What advice would you offer young women considering a career in eCommerce or technology? If aspects of the role are intriguing and play in to your strengths, certainly do your research and seek out opportunities for experience.
• What excites you most about the future of eCommerce? I really enjoy that eCommerce technology is ever-changing which allows us to always challenge ourselves to learn and implement new and improved features and functionality for a better customer experience.