Jon Caplan, one of our newest members, grew up in Palos Verdes, attending Malaga Cove Elementary School and Rolling Hills High School. He attended USC and became an English major (to be in class with his girlfriend), and he worked on the student newspaper, The Daily Trojan. He graduated during a recession and was out of work for 6 months before finding a job in Compton. His mother was a Special Ed Teacher, so he decided to become a substitute teacher in Special Ed, which no one else wanted to do.
 
 
He was a longtime auto enthusiast, and managed to arrange an interview with a talented car designer in Wilmington who was president of his company, and who hired Jon as a personal assistant. This seemed like a dream job, but the company developed management and legal problems associated with the president, who was eventually forced out of the company. The company became affiliated with Lamborghini, which moved Jon to a job in Florida. More company politics there caused him to leave after 6 months and return to California.
 
By then he had been managing company software (before special training was needed for this work). He has always been interested in Africa, so he developed a safari business 5 years ago, Simba Marara Safaris, based in Saugus, CA, with connections and employees in Kenya. Instead of group tours, he arranges individualized trips with travel, hotel and driver arrangements based on customer preferences. He met his future wife at a volunteer organization and took her to Africa for a honeymoon, and they have a child now. His website is www.smsafaris.com, and the phone number is 310-709-0283.