Josef Szigeti

In 1983 he arrived in Los Angeles with $500, a tent, and all his worldly belongings on his back. He did not speak English, but he found a job as a helper in a bookbinding factory within four days. During the next few years, he held down as many as three jobs at one time, working as many as 20 hours a day. He was, among other things, a construction worker, an underwater diver and an electrician. At the same time, he attended adult classes in the evenings to learn English. After six months in America, he opened his first business: a frozen yogurt stand in Venice Beach, California. He eventually sold this business and decided to go to college. While living on an 86-foot yacht in Marina Del Rey and working as the owners representative, he attended the Physics Department at UCLA. While studying at UCLA, he began to create a research and development company. Today, he owns 2 patents and work on some other projects as a hobby. In 1992, he graduated from UCLA. In 1996, he decided to go into the real estate business, and he got his real estate brokers license. He was on the board of ACRE Association of Corporate Real Estate Executives for 3 years, and on the board of USARC- an organization committed to guiding people with disabilities towards the creation & affirmation of rewarding lifestyles. On a personal level, he loves outdoor activities. He mountain bikes, hikes, plays tennis, wind surfs, scuba dives, rides Arabian horses in endurance races, and he is learning to surf. He volunteers teaching handicapped kids water-skiing in the summer and snow-skiing in the winter. He loves to paint in oil, and he sculpts in bronze. Life is quite a remarkable experience.