Meet Your Team
Our Optometry team focuses on your best eye health and vision correction,
delivered in an inviting atmosphere with impeccable patient care.
Dr. Larry Golson
Helping people enjoy life through better eye health and the best vision correction is the driving passion in life for Dr. Larry Golson. As a student at the Southern College of Optometry, Memphis, Tennessee, he participated in three vision service trips to Costa Rica and Bolivia with SVOSH – Student Volunteers for Optometric Service to Humanity. For each trip, Dr. Golson raised his own travel expenses and collected eyeglasses, which he sorted for men, women and children.
Dr. Eric Bryant
Dr. Eric Bryant is originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, and served in Wilmington for over a decade delivering the highest quality comprehensive eye care. He is excited and enthusiastic to now plant his roots in the Asheville community and grow his career with the Envision Eyecare team.
Christine Maiello
Christine has been in the health field for over 10 years. A native to New York State, she has come to call Asheville home. She finished her undergrad at UNCA in 2008 with a degree in Health and Wellness Promotion and Dance. She loves engaging with patients on their health and life interests. As a certified Holistic Health Coach and Yoga Instructor, she believes in living a life full of movement, balance, focus, and fun! She leads the team with compassion and strives to develop and expand our organization’s values and mission, while supporting our community of patients near and far.
Stephanie Salas
Stephanie relocated to Asheville from the south gulf beaches of Rotonda West, Florida with a background in retail management and wholesale buying. Originally from the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, Stephanie found her passion for working in small and independently owned businesses, problem solving, and being able to constantly learn and grow early on. She and her wife, Morgan, decided to move to Asheville when they fell in love with the city after only one visit. Stephanie loves going to the movies, listening to music, trying new local beers and food, and taking her puppy Gloria to Down Dog each week!
Anna Thompson
Anna was born and raised in Asheville, and currently lives in Black Mountain. She received her BFA with a focus in Sculpture from UNC-Greensboro in 2012, and finally landed here at Envision Eyecare in 2020! She is an avid reader, movie watcher, and walker. She and her husband Matt enjoy attending the Carolina Renaissance Festival in full garb, and their son Raylan and black mouth cur Aelish keep them busy too!
Kelci McDaniel
Kelci is a native of Canton, North Carolina, and just graduated (Spring 2021) from Western Carolina University with a B.S. in General Biology! She enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and has loved spending time getting to know the Asheville community through their eye care needs! As a self-proclaimed people person and glasses wearer of over twenty years, she believes helping patients achieve their highest field of vision is incredibly rewarding work.
Ashley Pawelczyk
Ashley originally hails from Bradenton, Florida. She made her way to the Smoky Mountains in March of 2020. After getting her degree in baking and pastry, she spent 10 years of her career in salon management while doing free-lance makeup for film, television, and theater. Ashley fell in love with Asheville the first time she experienced the live music and nightlife, and decided to move after her first trip here! Her biggest passion is elevating quality of life not only for herself but for those around her.
Maddy Schipporeit
Maddy is a multi-hyphenate creative who supports our operations department at Envision. When she’s not engaging at work, you’ll find Maddy creating custom pieces of wearable art at her small business, Moth and Magic Jewelry. She also sings with an over a three-octave range, having taken classical singing lessons for six years! When she isn’t creating, you’ll find her playing video games and spending time with her cats. Another fun fact about Maddy is that she has a deep love of Japanese pop culture. This stems from her youth when she and her father would rent VHS tapes of Godzilla and Sailor Moon on a weekly basis and that love has continued to grow ever since.
Jackie Cantrell
Born and raised right here in Asheville, the mountains have always been home for Jackie. Before coming to work with Envision, she was selling and fitting hearing aids. Her compassion and caring about people’s quality of life is what brought Jackie to join the Envision Team! In her free time, she enjoys shopping and spending time with her family, her husband Johnny, and their three cats.
Amari Porter
Amari was born and raised in Asheville, NC. She has been a soldier in the Army Reserves since her junior year of high school, and is currently studying for her certification to become a personal trainer. Her drive to help and care for people is what drew Amari to Envision Eyecare, and she believes that helping people live their highest quality of life begins with connection and compassion. In her free time, she enjoys exploring new cuisine, spending time with friends, working out, driving on the parkway to enjoy the Blue Ridge Mountains, and traveling.
Jade Sheppard
Jade is an Asheville native and eldest of seven. Before joining the Envision Team, she was a CNA for ten years in home health, nursing homes, staffing agencies, and Mission Hospital, and has an Associates Degree from AB-Tech. In her free time, Jade enjoys cooking and baking, photography, ballroom dancing, and camping!
Andrea C.
Andrea grew up in East Tennessee, and is a recent arrival from Atlanta, Georgia, happy to be back in the mountains! She is a licensed optician, with over 20 years of experience in the optical field. Her focus has mainly been in setting up new practices. She became part of the Envision Team in April of 2020. Her favorite thing to do is help patients with their very first pair of glasses, knowing that their quality of life will be greatly improved! Last year, she received her certification in Clinical Hypnotherapy (RTT) and loves to help people feel better. In her spare time, she likes hiking and visiting local breweries. She is also hoping to add a puppy to her family in the coming year of 2021!
Mechal Olsen
Mechal is a Charlotte native who moved to Asheville to attend UNC-Asheville. She graduated with a BA in Photography and a minor in Art History in 2018. When she’s not adjusting and fixing glasses, she can be found taking photos, hiking with her 15 year old dog Moose, hanging with her bunny Peaches, and spending time with her husband, Erik.
Sierra Brodland
Sierra is relatively new to the world of patient care, but is a natural caretaker and fierce advocate for those around her. At Envision, you‘ll find her balancing her time between marketing and optical. She has lived in Asheville for nearly a decade, and graduated from UNC Asheville in 2015. Sierra’s background in design and communication lends remarkably well to finding the perfect blend of fashion and function for patients looking to update their frames. When she isn’t working, she loves immersing herself in nature, attending concerts, playing games, cooking amazing meals, riding her motorcycle with her partner, and spending quality time with her loved ones (including her cat, Vivian).
Monica Curwen
Monica has called Asheville home since 1994. She was lured here by the mountains, bicycle racing, and to attend UNCA where she earned her B.A. in Spanish. Her background is in early childhood education was a lead teacher at Asheville Montessori School for 15 years, where she taught pre-k to children ages 3-6. Teaching and learning from her students taught her to be a more compassionate and empathetic person. Whether she is working at Envision (and sharing her love of puns), hiking to find a swimming hole, or playing roller hockey with her family, she is always looking to connect with people and to learn and grow through life experiences.
