Phila Opticals

“Struggle only makes you stronger.”

Hanna Filarska understands these words better than most. In early 2015 she celebrates 20 years as the owner of Phila Optical, which over the decades has grown from a tiny second-floor space in a drab high-rise to one of the most stylish and successful boutiques lining Toronto’s trendy Roncesvalles Avenue.

But Hanna’s journey began long before Phila. As a child growing up in communist Poland, she knew she wanted to work for herself. “I like to make my own rules and think independently,” she says.

It was certainly very independent of her to leave her homeland in 1983 at just 23 years of age, a year shy of earning a chemistry degree. Four years later, after “enjoying the freedom” of west Germany, she arrived in Ontario after her parents arranged for an uncle to sponsor her. “I wanted to make a new life for myself,” she explains. “It was a brave move.”

That’s when fate stepped in. Hanna applied for a job in Toronto as a lab technician, assuming the position was chemistry-related. But when it turned out to be in an optical lab, she embraced the challenge and quickly learned the ropes. Soon she was promoted to sales, and decided to make the most of her technical skills by becoming a licensed optician. It took five years of part-time study to earn her licence, and when she finally did in 1995 she rewarded herself with a trip to New York.