Attar on the right path

The fact that Audie Attar has landed in Irvine, also known as America's Safest City, is more than just a little ironic considering where he's come from, where he's been.

He's just 30 years old, but he's been around the world and back, both literally and figuratively. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Attar has called Irvine home for about five years now, where he continues to evolve as a person and a businessman.

His passion now is Paridigm Sports Management, which he founded in 2009 after six years working as a sports agent for All Pro Sports and Entertainment, Inc. Paradigm is gaining some momentum, now representing six NFL players, a handful of MMA fighters and is working on adding players from Major League Baseball.

Attar is outgoing and determined, motivated by his past with every step he takes in life. He received his MBA from Pepperdine Graziado School of Business and a Masters Certificate in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine Law School, which came on the heels of a successful athletic career.

Attar, listed as 6-feet, 205 pounds in college, was a linebacker for UCLA 10 years ago, coming off a stellar high school career at Claremont High, which inducted him into the school's Hall of Fame last month.

"All pro athletes, or athletes that reach a certain level of success at the Division I level, go through post-dramatic stress, to find that post-athletic identity," Attar said. "I'm no exception. I went through depression, sadness, I was unsure. But the persistence and resilience I showed as an athlete, and some of the things I went through, allowed me to stay the course."

Attar was born in Baghdad in 1980 but moved with his family to the United States when he was 2 years old.

"My dad (Al) had come here in the '50s," Attar said. "It was the same story you always hear. He had $300 to his name and he didn't speak a lick of English. But he learned the language and earned two undergraduate degrees and two Masters degrees. He went back to the Middle East to start a business."

But with the family growing, Al Attar moved to back to the U.S., to Pasadena. Attar returned to Iraq occasionally over the next few years to visit relatives, and was there when the first Gulf War started in 1991 when Attar was just a fifth grader.

They were stuck in Iraq for a short while because flights out of the country were temporarily halted, but eventually returned to the U.S.

Attar has never been back, but his parents have returned to help rebuild post-Saddam Iraq, Al working as an engineer.