Dr. Anna Koeck was born in Minsk, Belorus, one of the former Soviet Republics. She grew up in a former communist country. Raised by a single mom and grandma, she moved to the United States at 10 years old in 4th grade. Upon arrival her grandmother told her about this incredible country, where who you are born as and where you are born and your religion do not matter. If you work hard you can achieve anything. In this country, people are so kind and incredible and generous that many of them, after working hard and making money, give back to people who need help. They want others to also succeed. If you study hard and get good grades these kind people will even give you free money to go to college. It is called a scholarship.
Dr. Anna Koeck’s Story
I did not speak any English when we came and did not even know the English alphabet. I remember trying to convince my mom on the plane ride to New York that I should not go to school and just stay at home until I learned English. Monday I was in school and was put right into ESL, English Second Language program, for most of the day where I came to find out later, was hooked on phonics.
Do not worry, my story turns out ok!
After graduating salutatorian from Shorewood High School and earning a full academic scholarship, I went on to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Madison School of Business with a triple major in Marketing, Finance and Economics. Madison is also where I got to meet my favorite person in the world, my husband Josh.
I worked for 3 years as a project manager for Epic Medical Systems installing software projects for some of the biggest hospitals and clinics in the country. I realized how much I wanted to be right there in health care and help at a deeper level. After quitting my job, I started taking science classes and applied to optometry schools. The day I decided to quit my job, the most important people were supportive! Josh called me Doctor Anna. How lucky to have someone believe in you.
Josh and I got married and I started grad school! What a whirl wind!
We moved to Chicago where I attended the Illinois College of Optometry, the most prestigious and oldest school of optometry. I graduated summa cum laude with several scholarships, awards and multiple leadership positions.
I worked in a variety of clinical settings including the Illinois Eye Institute on the South Side of Chicago, several private practices, specializing in vision therapy, pediatrics, ocular diseases, the Clement Jo Zablocki VA here in Milwaukee, Hickam Airforce Base on Oahu and several retail settings.
When I was working an overbooked schedule of patients for a large corporation I learned that my mom was very sick and had been misdiagnosed initially. We learned she had Leukemia and I also learned I was pregnant. I could not take the burn out and being treated so poorly by the corporation. I walked out at 7 months pregnant to be able to take my mom to treatments, and vowed to do better. Although I lost my mom, she lived long enough to meet my son and in 2018 I opened a direct care integrative and holistic eyecare practice. I hope she is proud.
Theia Vision Care has been serving the Lake Country and our community for the last 7 years. We are proud to be voted top doctor in Lake Country every single year. We take either the number 1 or number 2 eye doctor spot in Lake Country every single year since we opened. We are also now voted top provider in Milwaukee Magazine 2024 and now… 2025.
We offer yearly FREE community vision screening to give back, work with at least 4 charities every year such as Movers for Moms, sponsor community events such as Hartland Kids Day and offer internships to high school and college students. We are so proud that one student is now a second year at Optometry school in New York, another one had just aced her Optometry school admission test and several high school students are interested in health and eyecare. The new generation is the absolute best.
I have always wanted to create a positive and safe work environment BOTH for the team and the patients/customers. Who you are with people who you do not need to impress is who you really are. This allows us to solve the main patient complaints which is that the doctor did not listen and did not spend enough time getting to the root of the problem. We allocate 10X more time to our exam than other doctors. Instead of 6 minutes you get 60! We get to the root of the problem and work on preventing diseases. We also create a positive environment so that we ourselves do not burn out! You have to put your oxygen mask on first on the plane.
Josh and I love to travel and now take our 9 year old son Maks. We love going for walks with the family on the Ice Age trail. Lake Country is beautiful! I love reading and working out in my free time. I am at CrossFit style group classes at least 4 times per week at Wisconsin Fitness Company, a wonderful community gym in Oconomowoc. I love to lift as heavy as possible. Since muscle is a metabolic organ, staying strong is the best way to prevent disease. I also love food; I focus on protein and veggies and also love to live life so will absolutely have a chocolate croissant on special occasion! I also love all things fashion and beauty. With a passion for art and fashion I love to express my creative side via what I wear.
With my family and team I am fortunate to be able to both work and help the community, as well as spend time with people who matter most. Now, how lucky is that?
About Dr. Anna Koeck
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your family.
I am married to Josh and still have a crush on him! We will celebrate 18 years married this August. Our son Maks is 9 years old and finishing fourth grade at Swallow elementary, the best school! He has such wonderful teachers and friends! He is living his best life and loves playing baseball, football and basketball. He also loves fishing and may even dig for worms in the back yard, as well as reading the Harry Potter series. His “brother” is our 2 year old puppy Hugo! Hugo is also the Chief Fun Officer at Theia Vision Care and is a hypoallergenic Old English Sheepdog. He is 100% purebred good boy! Very happy and very excited to see everyone. If you catch him on a day when he has office hours at work, be sure to say hello!
Q: Please tell us about your life and what you do (whether working in our community, a business owner, volunteer, etc.). How did you choose that path?
My super powers are empathy, incurable optimism and curiosity. I believe I am the luckiest person in the world and anything else that happens in my life is extra. I wanted to use my super powers while combining my love of health, art and beauty. Helping people see the beauty of this world, while living a life worth seeing is a dream job!
Q: What do you love most about what you do?
The feedback we get from our patients and customers, many of whom become friends is rewarding beyond measure. Often people and especially children do not actually realize that they are not seeing as well or their eyes are not functioning like they should. Even though we assume we would notice this, more often than not we do not realize it. Whether this is a functional vision problem and the child was skipping words when reading or it was a misdiagnosis of ADHD or it was an elder person whose cataract developed and they never noticed, we are able to make a meaningful difference in quality of life, ability to learn, sports performance, work performance and prevention and early detection of disease. An eye doctor is the only one who can actually see inside the body, inside the eye and detect issues such as diabetes, hyertension, arthritis, Lyme’s thyroid, hypercholesteremia, just to name a few, without doing anything invasive! To then take a few minutes to educate on next steps is a huge benefit to quality of life and can even save a life!
Q: What was the most difficult challenge in getting to where you are now or in your life?
The challenge every day on the professional side is continuing to serve as many people as we possibly can. Getting the word out about our practice is so vital. We are soooooo grateful to our patients and customers who refer us. That is the biggest compliment we could ever get. That is also how we grow our business. In the last year we have been fortunate to expand our dry eye side of the practice, adding tools such as the dry eye analyzer, in office treatments and at home options to get to the root cause of dry eye. Since no retail practices specialize in dry eye and most surgical specialties focus on surgery this is an underserved area and can often be the cause of contact lens intolerance, dry, gritty, burning, tired, blurry eyes, halos, distortion and vision fluctuations. Once we address the root of the problem, all the other issues fall away! Getting the word out about our practice is our biggest opportunity!
Q: What is the most rewarding part?
Every single day working with my team who I am so lucky to have and helping out our patients, customers and community.
Q: What are some of your future goals? Do you have anything exciting coming up that you would like to share?
Personally I would love to keep traveling and never stop having adventures with the people I love. Josh and I spent a week in Paris in December and in February we had a lovely family trip to Oahu where Maks learned how to surf. Professionally, I would love to expand the practice and add one more doctor to be able to serve more people in Lake Country. We offer a unique model that everyone deserves to take advantage of. With simple membership plans and ways to split payment there is a way for everyone to be able to get the care that they deserve!
Q: What advice would you give to someone interested in doing something similar to what you have done/are doing?
Meet as many people as you can who are doing what you want to do and ask to follow along. If it is a doctor, ask to shadow, for example, or even see if you can get an internship or a job in that type of setting. Being hands on truly allows you to see what the day to day is like. Also, be sure to do that with several different people to get a sense of variety even in one field.
Dr. Anna Koeck & Our Community
Q: What is your favorite thing about our community, favorite thing to do, or something unique about our community that you love? (Feel free to share as much as you’d like!)
We are so fortunate to be part of the Lake Country Community. The people here are the best!
Q: Who is an interesting person you’ve met here in our community, and how have they inspired you?
Mary Beth Berns with MBB coaching is one of the most inspiring, optimistic and encouraging people I have ever had the privilege to meet. She radiates light and is genuinely thrilled to help people become better versions of themselves.
Q: Do you have a favorite coffee shop, cocktail shop, or restaurant?
One of our favorite restaurants is Artisan 179, not only because of the delicious food and gorgeous location on the Pewaukee lake, but also because the owner Ted makes you feel like royalty every time you go!
Q: What 3 words would you use to describe our community?
United, empathetic and strong.
For Fun
Q: What is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
Q: What is your favorite book, TV show, movie, poem, or song? Why?
There are too many to pick. I have at least a dozen books on my night stand at any given time. Princess Bride is a movie I can rewatch any time. I love the Harry Potter series because magic is real and so is the perseverance and triumph of love and human spirit over evil. I love to listen to old school rap when I work out, especially CrossFit and weight lifting at Wisconsin Fitness Company.
Q: Who inspires you to be better?
My mom, my husband, my son, my best friend Anna Paterson and my best work friend Holly Kraemer.
Q: If you were a drink (can be a coffee drink, alcoholic, non-alcoholic, etc.), what would you be?
Water, you can always rely on it for help.
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone, who would it be with? Why?
My mom. Just to talk to her one more time in real life.
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
To travel to every continent.
Q: What makes you the happiest?
Time with people I love.
Q: Any general life advice you would like to share?
Absolutely not. The only person you need to ask for advice is you. Never, ever look outside of yourself for advice or validation. Look inside first and feel if it is right. Then consider if you would regret NOT doing the thing… Imagine you have time traveled to 20 years from now…. would you regret not doing whatever it is you are thinking about? It becomes really simple to decide… Hmmmm… maybe I accidentally did give some advice.
Where to Find Dr. Anna Koeck
Email: welcome@theiavisioncare.com
Phone: (262) 361-0022
Nice To Meet You:
I believe in positively impacting my clients and the community I live in, which is why I jumped at the chance to be an ambassador with “The Faces of Lake Country”. It’s a perfect blend of why I enjoy being a Realtor with Shorewest, Realtors, and everything I love about living in Lake Country.
I truly enjoy being a part of this community and helping others along the way. Prior to real estate, I was an Office Supervisor for the City of Waukesha Park & Recreation Department. During this time, I had the opportunity to work with many business owners and serve the general public. It was there that I realized that it really does take a village to make a community great and each and every one of us plays an important role.
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