as a pool and spa clarifier, so Arko’s boss at Leisure Time asked him to look into it, and create a counter marketing plan. After a lot of research and testing, Arko had to tell his boss he didn’t think they could sell against it.
But in the time he’d been researching Sea Klear, he’d made a lot of contacts there; when they asked him if he’d like to come to Washington state and work for them, Arko didn’t have to think long.
It sounded like a new adventure, and Arko’s family was ready to move away from their L.A. life.
“The time with Sea-Klear for me was tremendous as I was rubbing shoulders with rocket scientists, a micro-biologist and a PhD chemist. So, here I was this pool guy from Monrovia, but the whole team treated me like I was one of them. The collaboration and what I learned through it was life changing. To this day people think I am a chemist and I have to remind them that I am really just a glorified pool guy.”
He was with the company for 24 years, serving as Sea Klear’s Technical Director, riding through its merger with HaloSource and its acquisition by Natural Chemistry, which later became NC Brands.
But after NC Brands was acquired by KIK, Arko parted ways.
Now, he works for HASA, a leading producer and distributor of high-quality water treatment solutions and a premier source for sodium hypochlorite, or liquid chlorine. He does for HASA what he does best: provide technical training and technical writing on pool and spa water chemistry.
“For me working for HASA is like I have come full circle. HASA’s 4×1 deposit liquid chlorine and muriatic acid was such a big part of my life as a pool service tech. When I got into managing a retail store HASA was the brand of liquid we sold. I still remember using a handcart every morning to move the day’s supply of product out to the front of our store. Doing that every morning saved me on a gym membership.”
Today, he enjoys a quiet life in Washington, about 25 miles north of Seattle. He enjoys gardening and walking his dog and spending time with his family, and he’s currently working on a juvenile fiction book, inspired by science fantasy authors like C.S. Lewis and Neil Gaimon, and he hopes to have the book out by this summer.
He also recently published a book of poetry, one of his other life-long endeavors. Entitled Out of the Dark House, Arko says writing poetry offers him an escape from the industrial articles he writes day by day.
Arko’s poetry book can be found on Amazon, with paperback and Kindle editions available for purchase.
