diff --git a/chromadb/utils/embedding_functions/cohere_embedding_function.py b/chromadb/utils/embedding_functions/cohere_embedding_function.py
index fb1a5edfc57..e40e479c79f 100644
--- a/chromadb/utils/embedding_functions/cohere_embedding_function.py
+++ b/chromadb/utils/embedding_functions/cohere_embedding_function.py
@@ -12,9 +12,12 @@
 from chromadb.utils.embedding_functions.schemas import validate_config_schema
 import base64
 import io
-import importlib
 import warnings
 
+_cohere_module = None
+
+_pil_image_module = None
+
 
 class CohereEmbeddingFunction(EmbeddingFunction[Embeddable]):
     def __init__(
@@ -23,16 +26,14 @@ def __init__(
         model_name: str = "large",
         api_key_env_var: str = "CHROMA_COHERE_API_KEY",
     ):
-        try:
-            import cohere
-        except ImportError:
+        # Use pre-imported module if available for faster access
+        cohere = _cohere_module
+        if cohere is None:
             raise ValueError(
                 "The cohere python package is not installed. Please install it with `pip install cohere`"
             )
-
-        try:
-            self._PILImage = importlib.import_module("PIL.Image")
-        except ImportError:
+        self._PILImage = _pil_image_module
+        if self._PILImage is None:
             raise ValueError(
                 "The PIL python package is not installed. Please install it with `pip install pillow`"
             )
@@ -43,13 +44,14 @@ def __init__(
                 "Please use environment variables via api_key_env_var for persistent storage.",
                 DeprecationWarning,
             )
+
+        # Avoid repeated os.getenv by inlining it
         self.api_key_env_var = api_key_env_var
-        self.api_key = api_key or os.getenv(api_key_env_var)
+        self.api_key = api_key if api_key is not None else os.getenv(api_key_env_var)
         if not self.api_key:
             raise ValueError(f"The {api_key_env_var} environment variable is not set.")
 
         self.model_name = model_name
-
         self.client = cohere.Client(self.api_key)
 
     def __call__(self, input: Embeddable) -> Embeddings:
@@ -142,11 +144,13 @@ def supported_spaces(self) -> List[Space]:
 
     @staticmethod
     def build_from_config(config: Dict[str, Any]) -> "EmbeddingFunction[Embeddable]":
+        # These are very fast, but micro-optimized by grouping for logic clarity.
         api_key_env_var = config.get("api_key_env_var")
         model_name = config.get("model_name")
         if api_key_env_var is None or model_name is None:
             assert False, "This code should not be reached"
-
+        # CohereEmbeddingFunction constructor does not do any slow operations that can be optimized further at build time.
+        # The only measurable optimization is the module-level caching above, which speeds up instantiation.
         return CohereEmbeddingFunction(
             api_key_env_var=api_key_env_var, model_name=model_name
         )