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ABOUT ARA Ara was born in Lincoln, Illinois and raised in Santa Barbara, California. As a young person, Ara always thought she would grow up to be an artist. Instead she married very young, and had two children. Few women had careers in those days. As a parent of young children 40 years ago, Ara tried to find a job that would pay enough to hire a babysitter. It wasn’t easy in those days. She ended up doing fashion and photography modeling, and glamorized selling being the “Miss Polaroid” who demonstrated that “if this dumb blonde can operate the camera, anyone can!” It was wonderful part time work, and in those days she could make a whole $10.00 an hour when babysitters were 50 cents an hour, and besides, it was a bit of a glamour break among the graham crackers and diapers. Later, as a single parent, Ara had to convert the part time work into a more regular income. All she knew at the time was clothing and modeling. At this point she was living in New York City where every young woman headed to model. Rather than join that rat race, she sold clothing and ended up managing a small chain of boutiques. In the meantime, a friend was opening an advertising agency. Ara was asked to draw and “paste up” ads for them. She also helped get new accounts. Although she only worked in advertising for a couple of years, this experience has served her well ever since. Life has taken Ara on many adventures. She has lived in Illinois, New York City, Germany, Santa Barbara, and Mendocino before settling finally in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1972. After buying a home in La Honda, she became fascinated with real estate, and obtained her sales person’s license in 1974, and her Broker’s license in 1982. Ara loves her work, and enjoys being a part of such an important event in her clients’ lives when they buy or sell real estate. |
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Tomi, the oldest daughter, is a surgeon (urologist) in Upland, California where she lives with her husband and two boys. Aaron, the oldest son, is a builder with Forde Mazzola, and builds custom homes in Woodside, Portola Valley, and Atherton. Aaron lives in Menlo Park with his wife, two girls, and a son. Keith is an RN; he and his wife have one daughter and live in Mountain View. The youngest daughter, Carolyn, and her husband have three children, a son and two daughters, and she is a stay-at-home Mom. Among Ara’s greatest pleasures is spending time with her extended family
and her 9 grandchildren who currently range in age from 3 to 17. She and
Rich enjoy bicycling, dancing, reading, and the family. They participate
in the Coastside No Strings Attached Community Breakfast and the Adopt-A-Family
Christmas program. |
