Candidate for
Governor; Republican Party

Along with his twin sister, Steve Mozena is the youngest of eight children born to European immigrant parents. His father, now deceased, was born in Italy. He owned a medical equipment and supply company in Portland and Seattle. Steve's mother, born in Ireland, founded "Portland's White House," the first bed and breakfast in Portland, so named because it resembled the White House.

Mozena received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Oregon, and he soon made a name for himself as an entrepreneur, technology innovator, publisher, print and radio journalist, community activist, and creative, out-of-the-box problem-solver.

Early in his career, while working as a sports intern at KPTV-12 in Portland, Oregon, he came up with a creative idea that captured the public imagination. Building on the Portland Trailblazers' Blazermania and victory of the Western Conference in the late 1980s, Steve created the hot-selling "Blazer Tails," a three-colored streamer that people could tie onto their car antennas to show their support for the Blazers. He made eight thousand dollars from the Blazer Tails in one week!

Also in the late 1980s, Steve Mozena was a morning radio personality, giving drive-time broadcasts on Phoenix, Arizona's FM 100 KLZI radio station. He also created the persona of "Dr." Steve Mozena. He would don lab coat and scrubs for public appearances, and mix music and humor as he poked mild fun at himself as "Dr. Steve." This routine was based on an earlier stint of Steve's in which he owned and sold medical and surgical supplies to doctors' offices, hospitals, and nursing homes.

In the early 1990s, Mozena made his mark as a publisher. As founder, CEO, and publisher of Mozena Publishing, Inc., a custom textbook company, and ETEXT.net Electronic Textbook Publishing, an online academic publishing firm, he pioneered the electronic college textbook field.

ETEXT.net was founded in 1994, as Mozena's e-vision for education propelled him to take advantage of the Web before it was hip. See etext.net. ETEXT.net provides a service for college professors and students. Professors receive higher royalties, and students pay less for their custom etext than for conventional hardcover or paperback textbooks.

Steve Mozena is also a perpetual investigative reporter; his observations about the city, the media, and other items of importance to the citizens of Los Angeles and around the country have been widely published in cities such as Portland, Ore.; Seattle, Wash.; Phoenix, Ariz., and even New York. One of his recent undertakings is to promote fiscal responsibility in government. See his Post the Finances Web site at postthefinance.com

Mozena also has a long track record as a community activist. When he lived in Venice, California, he surprised everyone by persuading the Los Angeles City Council to embark on a long-overdue tree-trimming project. Local residents had been trying unsuccessfully for more than ten years to get this accomplished and turned to Steve for help. He asked the Council for funds to beautify Venice Beach and Boardwalk, joking that he represented the "Merchants of Venice" because he had a petition with more than 200 signatures of residents and merchants along the world-renowned Venice Beach Boardwalk. The Council took the Shakespearean hint, and Venice Beach was no longer treated like the city dump. With the necessary funds, Steve arranged for 600 trees to be trimmed.

Following this success, Steve Mozena approached the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commission, requesting grass seed for his community. The Commission said there was no money in the budget, but Steve offered to pay for the seed if the city promised to plant and take care of the seedlings. They agreed to this, but the city did not live up to its end of the bargain. So, Mozena, after having exhausted all measures to reclaim his money, as a final resort sued the city in small claims court and won. The Los Angeles Times' reporter, Bob Poole, wrote an article about the incident.

But this was not the end of Steve's beautification efforts. He enlisted the homeless to remove graffiti, had the city post new recreational road signs, remove debris, set up volleyball nets, repair potholes and sidewalks, fix fencing around storm drains, fix lampposts, and paint swing sets.

Mozena has also participated in the political life of California. In 2001, he ran for public office in Los Angeles because he wanted to give something more back to his community.

In April 2001, Mozena married Lucille (Pedrita) Mozena. They have a daughter, Arista Mozena, who was born in June 2002.

Since moving to Carson, California, in 2002, Mozena has continued to be active in community life. He ran for public office in Carson in March, 2004 and again in 2005, and actively worked to bring new businesses to Carson.

In 2007 Mozena concentrated his efforts on developing his small businesses. In April, he and his wife became owners of a strip mall in Long Beach, California, consisting of four retail units and two apartments. Soon after this purchase Mozena founded Mozena Medical and Surgical Supplies and Equipment, a retail and wholesale store in Long Beach, which also does business online. Mozena Medical was founded as a tribute to Steve Mozena's dad, who owned a medical supplies company for many years and gave Steve his first start in the industry. Mozena also founded Mozena Copy Center and Mozena Minute Market (a convenience store) in the same location. The recession of 2008 and 2009 presented a huge challenge to small businesses across the nation, and Mozena's companies were no exception. However, Mozena Publishing in particular continued to do well, producing custom texts for a wide range of clients. In 2009, Mozena began fully utilizing social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter to promote his political ideas and prepare for his present run for governor in 2010.