NORTHRIDGE : Woman Fulfilling a Deferred Dream

When Carole Ozanian was studying piano at Cal State Long Beach, she dreamed of traveling the world to learn new music and sample different cultures. But, with no money for the college’s foreign exchange program and, having married after college and given birth to three girls, those dreams were filed away.

That is, until recently.

The 57-year-old Northridge resident was recently selected by an Alhambra-based Christian educational organization to teach the fundamentals of business marketing to students in St. Petersburg, Russia, for three weeks.

Educational Services International, or ESI, asked Ozanian to serve as one of more than 120 teachers in a program to share their business knowledge with residents of former communist countries in Eastern Europe and parts of Eurasia.

“We subscribe to the Christian attitude of setting out to serve your fellow man,” said ESI program director Rob Filback. ESI “does not include anything religious or moral in the nature of its curriculum, but looks to recruit educators who would be effective in teaching what they know.”

Fresh off her 13-hour flight from Los Angeles, Ozanian said from St. Petersburg that she wants to tell students at the city’s Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics about the tenacity and focus necessary to succeed in business.

After divorcing her first husband, Ozanian raised three children by selling sheet music for a publishing company and teaching the piano at local elementary and high schools. Living frugally, she eventually saved enough money to open her own guitar shop.

With a commitment to work long hours and her pianist’s flair for innovation, Ozanian soon expanded the shop into a business dealing in string and brass instruments from all over the world.

“My main concern is to teach students the value of a strong work ethic,” Ozanian said. “By doing so, they’ll be able to find more options open to them in what is now an expanding international trade market.

“I’m not here, however, with a ‘let me show you how things are done’ attitude,” she continued. “They must deal with a lot of political ramifications that I’m only slightly aware of.

“It is going to be a learning experience for me as well--a real cultural adventure.”