BHM: Tracy Green, Female Founder Feature

To continue our Black History Month celebration of female founders we have an exciting one today, Tracy Vontélle Green, Co-Founder and CEO of Vontélle Eyewear. Find out more about her exciting expansion and what Black History Month means to her.

ALLY Shoes: Tell us about yourself

Tracy: I am the Co-Founder & CEO of Vontélle Eyewear and oversees designs, finance, and direction of the company. Tracy has amassed a strong professional career which has developed her leadership skills, business, and financial acumen. She has been involved in funding procurements as a Budget Analyst for the New York City Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget; wrote grants for the New York City Department of Health; managed financial mergers as a Consultant for Accenture; oversaw the NYC public assistance budget of $6.1 billion as the Deputy Commissioner at Human Resources Administration; worked at Harlem and Bellevue Hospitals in key financial positions before becoming the Chief Financial Officer to the Department of Education School of Support Services and at Health + Hospitals Corporation- Metropolitan Hospital Center, Queens Hospital Center and One Brooklyn Health System - Interfaith Hospital Center.

Due to health (I have LADA - Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults - it's Type 1.5) and the pandemic I retired early and needed something to do while I worked on my health and we had already started research on making eyewear. So, I went in 100% and I'm proud to announce we designed a collection for America's Best and as of 2024 are in 900 stores. Woo Hoo!

Ally Shoes: What was your vision behind building Vontelle eyewear?

Tracy: The concept for Vontélle was born out of a need of both the founders, Tracy & Nancey who each lost their expensive eyewear within the same year and decided to focus their efforts on making their next purchases from a Black-owned brand. After searching high and low for glasses that were stylish and had an ethnic flair, we realized they simply did not exist. That is when I [Tracy] suggested we start our own line. Our eyewear is original, authentic, distinctive, and invites conversation.

Size Matters! For centuries, many of us have been wearing ill-fitting glasses. From our research and firsthand experiences many optical wearers have endured the painful line across our noses, indentation on the cheeks and headaches. Thus, Vontélle created comfortable fitting eyewear with wider bridges for your nose, longer temples for behind the ears and larger lenses for high cheekbones; plus, we added luxurious materials, colors and patterns.

ALLY Shoes: You have beautiful designs for eyewear, is this something you have a designer create for you?

Tracy: My Co-founder Nancey and I designed our first 37 designs that we launched on our website in October 2020. We continue to design our newest collections for America's Best and our collaboration with other brands like Harlem Haberdashery and Earline Sims. We now have a small team of 5 and our website designer Kelsey is the designer for our Nickelodeon collections - Sponge Bob, Baby Shark, Chuckies and PAW Patrol. She's amazing and works with kids so her designs reflect what the kids love.

ALLY Shoes: Who is your ally?

Tracy: Women! Women owned brands have been our ally. We know how hard it is to be an entrepreneur, businesswoman, a mother, a wife, a sister, aunt, partner, boss, a mentor, a listener, a cook, role model, caretaker, etc. I'm so proud to work with so many women who have guided us through this journey.  

We also found an ally in several Black owned businesses, grantors, and organizations that have helped amplify the Vontélle brand with funding, resources and exposure. It’s important as new emerging brands need 3 things: funding (capital), opportunity (distribution), and resources (staffing, supplies, marketing, mentorship). We were very lucky to find a mentor and ally in an optical company ClearVision Optical who has been in business for 75 years.

ALLY Shoes: In honor of BHM, what does the celebration of this month mean to you?    

Tracy: I attended Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, a HBCU (Historically Black College & University) where I learned black history in everyday lessons & activities. Black Americans physically built this nation and made significant contributions throughout history in various fields such as civil rights, literature, science, politics, law, innovation, public service, military and more. The celebration of BHM is to bring this information to light and unveil our history for everyone. It is important to learn and never forget the lives that were impacted for us to have the nation and liberties we have today.