WORLAND – In August, just a few short months after graduation, Emily Bryant began her career as an optometrist joining Dr. Carl Cottrell at Worland Vision Clinic.

Before graduation, Bryant spoke with Cottrell about the possibility of coming to work with him at Worland Vision. Bryant said that Cottrell agreed to have her join the clinic as he was getting busy. She also said that her joining the business gave Cottrell an excuse to remodel the office. "We had talked about my possibly coming back and he started the remodel and said 'alright let's remodel the office with two doctors, let's make more exam rooms and update a little bit.' So it was a good excuse to update the office. It was actually, there were two offices [in the building] so we broke through a wall to combine the two offices," Bryant said. "I'm lucky to work here," she added.

Bryant's desire to become an optometrist stemmed from her brother being diagnosed with glaucoma at the age of 19. "It's usually a disease that happens in people 65 plus. I was always involved with his treatment and it sparked my interest in eyes. I have always been immersed in the medical field and decided to focus on eyes because of my brother," Bryant said. She added that she just saw her brother as a patient last week and he is doing great, although he is having a little difficulty calling his sister doctor.

Born and raised in Sheridan, Bryant is enjoying her career so far, interacting with the patients and getting to know this community better. She is also looking forward to putting names with faces and getting to know the family names in town.

Bryant and her husband Brady do not have any children at this time but are parents to a special dog who is very important to Bryant. Although it might not be too long before her dog gets a sibling. "No children yet but in the near future, I'm sure," she said. "I'm a dog mom now."