It was 1965 and my older brother John had just showed me how to do my first lamp repair in the backroom of our family’s lighting fixture store, Babton Lighting Center, in Santa Monica.  I went on to spend many afternoons after school and on weekends helping out at the store.  I learned so much from my parents and the values they taught me are still with me today; Hard Work, Honesty and Respect.

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After college, I became more interested in lighting design. I signed up for as many industry sponsored courses and seminars as I could find. Back in those days, most of the lighting design training was sponsored by larger lighting manufacturers (Lightolier, Halo, GE to name a few.) I started to work closely with interior designers, custom home builders and restaurant owners working on lighting layouts and specifying fixtures for their new projects.  It was a busy time for the lighting showroom business in those days and long before the internet.

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I have been involved in many aspects of the lighting industry. Besides the retail environment that I grew up in, I have worked in wholesale, lighting design, fixture design, manufacturing, importing and worked as a national sales manager serving Home Center and E-commerce markets. What I really missed most was the front line interaction with end users and their representatives - the interior designers, general contractors, developers and architects who really drive the business.