BY ILONA SAARI
SEAN
MASON
Born in New Hampshire where his Dad went to yet out of diapers when his family left for the w Mom attended UCLA. Soon, infant Sean found h of Mount Kilimanjaro, where his parents taught
ALL YOU N
in Moshi. By the time he was 2-1/2, Sean was back in Los Angeles, where he settled until graduating high school and left for the University of Oregon. Can the mythical spirituality of that mountain and his parents’ desire to teach needy children somehow steer a toddler on a life’s path? Only time would tell. At that time, however, “time” was telling him that skiing, not college, was for him. He dropped out of school and became the quintessential ski bum in Steamboat Springs, with the requisite jobs needed to support his love of traversing the slopes. Whether clerking in a supermarket or washing dishes in a hotel, he was living in the moment. Eventually, the “moment” ended and he returned to L.A.. Interested in acting, Sean enrolled in Santa Monica College to do theater, following in the footsteps of another “Sean,” Sean Penn, who had attended the year before. He then segued to the University of Santa Barbara where he majored in theater. After earning his BFF, Sean moved back to L.A. to attend an acting class … a bad one, as it turned out. He then found himself drifting back and forth between Santa Barbara and L.A. He became intrigued by Werner Erhard’s EST/ The Forum, and the notion of Confluent Education, which blends knowledge, skills, attitudes and feelings in a person to help produce wholeness in oneself and in society. His acting took a back seat to a budding spirituality. He returned to the University of Santa Barbara to enroll in its confluent education program and to work toward his Masters degree. 12
OM — June 2020
When he discovered community mediation programs, he wanted to be involved. His goal was to become a mediator. After returning from Tanzania, Sean’s Dad had gone to UCLA law school and practiced at a prestigious firm in L.A. while his Mom taught school, also in Los Angeles. Later, she too, went to law school and when she graduated, she and Sean’s Dad started their own Labor and Employment Law practice. Sean decided the best way to achieve his mediator goal was to follow in his parents’ footsteps. So he enrolled in Whittier Law School. Married shortly before entering Whittier, Sean became a father to daughter, Roxanne, during his final year there. In 1995, the family moved to Santa Barbara where he worked for Malandro Communications as a consultant, traveling the globe teaching such skills as leadership, teamwork and public speaking. He also mediated as part of his consulting practice. In 2007, he opened his own mediation, estate and trust law firm and, after almost two decades, his marriage
