Daughter Is Mother's Boss

May 3, 2010 - PRLog -- In 1982, when Carla Itzkowich started International Contact, Inc., a multilanguage communications agency in Oakland, California, she couldn't think of a better partner than Norma Armon, her mother.
Like Carla, Norma was originally from Mexico and was an experienced television producer, plus had doctorates in English and Spanish. What better combination to help clients address the lucrative foreign language markets, within the U.S. and internationally?

Impressed with her daughter's entrepreneurial bent, Norma agreed to join the fledgling firm on the condition that Carla be the majority principal, knowing that otherwise, she would never allow Carla the power to make - and learn from - her mistakes. She was also thinking of a future when she would want to semi-retire, while Carla was at the beginning of her managerial life. Thus, International Contact, Inc. was organized with Norma Armon as the Creative Director and Carla Itzkowich as the Executive Director.

International Contact translates to and from virtually any language, producing accurate, effective adaptations of print and multimedia materials for many corporations and agencies including the Apple Computer, AC Transit, BART, the City of Oakland, Milpitas, San Jose, the State of California, Intel, Oracle, Sprint, J. Walter Thompson and many others.

In the 28 years since they formed this unusual alliance, mother and daughter have worked hard and prospered; in the process their relationship - like their business - has altered and matured. Avoiding the problems inherent in a mother/daughter relationship has not been easy, particularly with the reversal of traditional roles and status.

"International Contact is Carla's baby - and I'm sort of its grandmother; she has clear ideas how it should be raised and consults my opinion; if there is a discrepancy, there's no question who has the final say," says Norma with a wry smile.

Their combined talents - plus the addition in 1990 of Jon Golding, Carla's husband, to manage the desktop publishing department and 12 other employees in various production and administrative capacities - has created a boutique with service billings over one million dollars providing foreign language services to advertising agencies, large and small corporations, and government entities.

"Working with Norma is satisfying at an emotional level. We can speak to each other directly without having to mince words, and there is absolute trust between us, there is a shared history that impels us to seek the same values. Also, when clients gratefully thank me for being such a stickler about perfection, I always respond that it's my mother's fault," laughs Carla.

These strong-willed minority women have turned traditional roles upside down yielding a dynamic relationship that has produced business and personal growth and success.

# # #

Multilanguage communications agency helping clients address the lucrative foreign language markets effectively for 27 years. We can translate to and from any language and have the talent to create accurate, effective adaptations of print and multimedia.