Interview by Abernathy Cochran intern and Gainesville High School senior Anna Kate Embry
Meet Dr. Keylee Brown! Keylee is an optometrist in Gainesville at Key Optique on Thompson Bridge Road. She is a wife and mother of two. She studied optometry in sunny Puerto Rico. While in school she interned at Woolfson Eye Institute and Omni Eye Services in Atlanta perusing her passion for ocular disease. Keylee also is a trustee on the GOA, the was named the Georgia Young Optometrist of the Year in 2020 by Gov. Kemp.
We want to thank Keylee for spending time with us and talking about her life and love of Hall County.
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your family.
A: “I’m from Dahlonega, and my family lives there. I have two kids, a boy and a girl, ages 5 and 2.”
Q: Please tell us about your current career. What do you love most about what you do?
A: “I’m an optometrist. I love connecting with patients and taking care of their eyes, their vision, their eyesight and helping them see the world better. It’s my passion and calling. I have wanted to be in some kind of medical profession since I was five years old, and have been interested in optometry since I was 13.”
Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in our community?
A: “I just ate at the Chattahoochee Grill for lunch, it was pretty out there on the porch. I also love 2 Dog, Avocados and the Inn-Between.”
Q: How long have you lived or worked in our community?
A: “I opened Key Optique a year and a half ago. But what’s interesting is everyone thinks that I’m new but I feel like I’m not new to Gainesville. I’ve lived in Dahlonega my whole life but we always come to Gainesville for everything.”
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in our community?
A: “I feel like in general I have met a lot of amazing people at Key Optique. Our patients are really amazing and I love hearing their stories and getting to know them.”
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
A: “Iceland, I really want to go there. It’s beautiful and there are a ton of good places to hike and explore. I love adventure. My husband and I have been married over 15 years and we really want to make it happen.”
Q: What is one of your favorite movies? TV shows?
A: “I watch too much ‘The Real Housewives’ at nighttime when I’m trying to fall asleep. But I like any kind of documentary.”
Q: What advice would you want to give or leave with people?
A: “Don’t neglect your eyes. I feel like so many people don’t ever have an eye exam or they never come in. Just because you have good vision, doesn’t mean that your eyes are necessarily healthy, so don’t take your eyes for granted.”
Q: If you could choose anyone that’s alive today and not a relative, with whom would you love to have lunch. And why and where locally would y’all meet for this lunch?
A: “I really would love to have lunch with Sarah Blakely. I messaged her husband one time on Instagram and told him I want to be their eye doctor. He actually liked the message and I was like ‘oh you read that?’ We will have lunch wherever she wants to go, I’ll drive to her but locally I would love to take her to Avocados.”
Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community?
A: “I like how philanthropic and charitable our community is. There’s always some kind of fundraiser for something big like a luncheon or an auction.”
Q: What’s something you hope our community has or does in the future?
A: “More restaurants.”
Q: Where do you see yourself in five to 10 years?
A: “I would love to still be here at Key Optique, I love this area, it’s nice and quiet. It’s easy to get to for anyone on this side, you don’t have to go into town. It’s perfect for me, it is kind of right in the middle of everything.”
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
A: “Maybe just a lot more traveling, a cool destination.”
Q: What is something that you have been proud to check off your bucket?
A: “Along the lines of traveling, I’ve been to Thailand.”
Q: What is your go to band when you cant decide what to listen to?
A: “I like music, I like a little bit of everything. We listen to a lot of Taylor Swift around here, all the ladies of country, especially the 90s. I like Carrie Underwood, John Mayer and OutKast, I have a full playlist of 2000s. ”
Q: What is the most beautiful place you have ever been?
A: “We lived in Puerto Rico for three and a half years, it was very pretty there.”
Q: Favorite month? favorite holiday? Best single day on the calendar?
A: “My favorite month is July. But I like December, too, so Christmas. I love all holidays but I do love Christmas so much.”
Q: What would you rate a 10 out of 10?
A: “Just life, especially today with the sunshine, it changed my whole mood because the past six weeks has been gloomy, but I feel like we’re in Seattle today.”
Q: Who would you want to play you in a movie about yourself?
A: “Wouldn’t Reese Witherspoon be fun?!”
Q: What is one or two of your favorite smells?
A: “I love Fraser Fir candles in the fall, that’s a Christmas candle, but I like it all fall. I also like Vanilla Tobacco.”
Q: Who inspires you to be better?
A: “My children. To be the best I can be.”
