I was born and raised in Ukraine and spent my first 18 years there. At the age of 18 I moved to the Unites States knowing only three words in English: “Hi”, “Bye” and “Chicken”. The word “Chicken” I learned on the way here since every airplane I boarded was serving chicken. When I arrived, I was no longer considered a high school age student and we arrived in the middle of a semester so I began attending Fresno Adult School and Clovis Adult School at the same time. I was trying to learn English as soon as possible.
The following year I was able to enroll in Fresno City College. In 2005 I graduated from FCC with an Associate Degree in Business Administration.
After graduating, I married my beautiful wife Angie. I put education aside for a while and went to work for a big security equipment manufacturer – Pelco. During my time at Pelco, I decided to finish my education and enrolled in Fresno Pacific University to get my BA. Two years later, I graduated from FPU with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management. I worked at Pelco for 10 years and went through 2 major promotions. I started in the Payroll Department as a Payroll clerk. Shortly thereafter, I promoted to the Sales Department as a Sales Representative and from there I went to the Global Sales department as a Business Analyst. When my position at Pelco was eliminated, I decided to go into mortgage lending.
I love my job and I’m very blessed to do what I love and help people at the same time. My wife and I are raising 3 beautiful children, ages 3-13. My hobbies are beekeeping and gardening. Raising bees has taught me the value of hard work and I enjoy sharing the honey harvest with friends, family and clients.
