Sophia Edelstein is the co-founder and co-CEO of Pair Eyewear. Since its inception, Pair Eyewear has put consumers at the center of the innovation process, ensuring that the brand is at the forefront of redefining the eyewear experience by offering continual customizability, freedom of choice, and affordability for glasses. In her role, Edelstein leads brand marketing and creative and development initiatives in addition to overseeing web and product design.

Edelstein was named an honoree for Forbes Under 30 in 2020. Prior to co-founding Pair Eyewear, Edelstein earned her undergraduate degree at Stanford University, which was where she and her co-founder, Nathan Kondamuri, discovered that current eyeglass options were limited, expensive, and not all that fun. From there, the duo made it their mission to respond to a long overdue marketplace need to bring countless affordable, stylish eyeglass options to make the eyeglass experience enjoyable.

Nathan Kondamuri is the co-founder and co-CEO of Pair Eyeware. Motivated by Kondamuri’s own negative experience of wearing glasses as a child, Pair is reinventing the entire glasses experience to be more empowering and fashionable for kids, while affordable and stress-free for parents.

When Kondamuri got glasses at 8 years old, it was daunting. Like most kids, he was self-conscious and embarrassed to wear them to school because of the stigma existing around glasses. After sharing this story with his co-founder, Sophia Edelstein, the two wondered why nobody had redesigned glasses to be more fun and dynamic. After talking to over 400 families, they discovered that kids don’t enjoy wearing glasses and parents dreaded the expensive and stressful process. Today, one in every four children wears glasses, and experts estimate that by 2050 it will be one in every two. Compelled by the stories they heard, Kondamuri and Edelstein devoted the rest of their senior year at Stanford University to reinventing the experience of wearing and buying glasses.

This appearance by Sophia and Nathan is part of the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series. Join us virtually at youtube.com/ecorner as we bring founders, investors and industry influencers to center stage and invite them to share what it takes to become a disruptor.