Look and Listen

Biography

A member of one of the word’s largest consular corps and a long-time resident of Los Angeles, Jaak Treiman holds degrees from the University of Southern California and University of Chicago. He has introduced government dignitaries, newly arrived consuls, former political prisoners, academics and other inquisitive visitors to the important sites and kaleidoscopic character of Los Angeles. As a co-founder of Innovation Democracy, Inc., a California-based nonprofit organization, he has visited Afghanistan and Somaliland. In addition he has traveled extensively in Europe as well as Japan and Mongolia. He brings to A Diplomatic Guide to Los Angeles the experience and perspective garnered from those travels. Jaak was born in Estonia during World War II but escaped with his parents when he was three months old, fleeing the German occupation and the expected Soviet invasion. They lived in Stockholm, Sweden and Sydney, Australia before arriving in Los Angeles in late 1951. A lawyer by profession, Jaak was in private practice for many years then, at the request of a long-time client, he established their legal department and served as in-house counsel for a major bankcard processing company. Jaak’s current occupation is as a co-founder and General Counsel of Innovation Democracy, Inc., a California-based 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation committed to identifying and building on small but significant initiatives started by local innovators in fragile countries. http://innodemo.wordpress.com/ InnoDemo’s current activities include education and entrepreneurship development in Afghanistan and in East Africa. In 2011 he also formed Velak Publishing to market and sell his book, A Diplomatic Guide to Los Angeles, Discovering its Sites and Character. Jaak was appointed Honorary Consul for Estonia in 1986. He has served as Treasurer of the Los Angeles Consular Corps on two separate occasions. He has been privileged to meet with Presidents Gerald Ford (presentation of an award of appreciation at President Ford’s home on behalf of the Republic of Estonia), Ronald Reagan (a one on one meeting between President Reagan and a former Estonian Amnesty International prisoner of conscience; a subsequent one on one meeting between the future President of Estonia Lennart Meri and President Reagan), and George H. W. Bush (along with 12 other American Baltic leaders and Secretary of State Baker at the White House) on matters related to the Baltic States. He is a member of the Board of Directors and past Board chair of the U.S.-Baltic Foundation, a Washington, D.C. 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1990 to support democratic and free market reforms in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Jaak received his B.A in Political Science and Juris Doctorate degrees from the University of Southern California. He also holds a M.A. degree in International Relations from the University of Chicago. He is the author of a number of OpEd pieces and magazine articles.

Inspiration

A Diplomatic Guide to Los Angeles began as a list of places to see that I was going to give newly arrived consuls posted to Los Angeles. Los Angeles has the world’s third largest consular corps (around 100 countries represented) and many of the career diplomats who arrive to serve their 2 – 4 year tour of duty know little about the region. I thought they and their families could use a little “cheat sheet” to get started. As I made my list and asked for suggestions from friends, colleagues and even strangers the list grew longer. Then I decided I should add a few brief descriptive comments. Over time “brief” ended up being not so “brief.” Eventually, I saw that I had a manuscript. I photocopied the manuscript and gave it to each head of post in the Los Angeles Consular Corps. It was received enthusiastically. The city of Los Angeles published a portion in one of its electronic bulletins. At that point, I decided I had 85 percent of a finished book and added photos, maps and an index and published it as a paperback – a paperback that is now given to visiting dignitaries by the city of Los Angeles.