Reaching the Community

Chamber Chair Ramis Sadrieh Aims to Support Local Businesses Following Palisades Fire

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

When it comes to connecting with the community, Ramis Sadrieh knows that you get what you give—that is why, in addition to running his own business, he wears so many hats.

One of those hats is chair of the Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce—a position he took over January 1, less than one week before the Palisades fire began and “everything changed overnight.”

“Now I’m in the position of trying to help businesses that have been shut down, closed, burned down—both literally and figuratively—as a result of this,” Sadrieh described to the Palisadian-Post. “I feel an overwhelming obligation to the community to try to get all of this going. I’ve been trying to represent the Palisades and Malibu communities, attending all the meetings with Mayor [Karen] Bass … and just letting everyone [know] and reminding them, it’s also the businesses … that have been affected by this.”

Sadrieh’s involvement with the Chamber dates back decades, to when he was just starting his own business, Technology For You! The company provides concierge consultation in homes and offices, dealing with computer and consumer electronics, including Ring cameras, as well as complete home-theater design.

When he launched his business in August 2003, Sadrieh described being willing to drive anywhere: working with clients from Palos Verdes to Camarillo.

“Whoever found out about me, I would try to help,” Sadrieh said.

Over the years, he narrowed that field down to the Westside, with most of his clients located in the Palisades. Now, following the Palisades fire, he is back to serving displaced clients who are currently residing from Manhattan Beach to Oxnard.

“I’m not going to leave my clients out there and to dry—no, I want to support them still,” Sadrieh said. “I appreciate them supporting me and my family, so I’m going to support them in their new locations that they move to. Some of them it’s temporary, some of them it’s permanent.”

Sadrieh, who lost his childhood home in the fire, grew up in Palisades from the time he was 2 years old, graduating from Palisades Charter High School in 1992. In 1993, when he was 18 years old and attending his first year at UCLA, he won the title of Mr. Palisades, alongside Miss Palisades Allegra Piaggi.

It was during this time that he became familiar with the Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce and the late Arnie Wishnick, who was CEO of the Chamber. As part of the title, he and Piaggi attended things like Chamber Mixers and other community events, becoming “youth ambassadors.”

A decade later, after getting a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine, Sadrieh was launching his business and got in touch with Wishnick, who suggested Sadrieh attend a mixer that night at the Post office on Via De La Paz.

“I called him and I said, ‘Arnie, I started my own business and I want to get involved with the Chamber of Commerce,’” Sadrieh recalled. “So he said, ‘You should come tonight, we have a mixer tonight.’”

Sadrieh described running into longtime community members like Dr. Mike Martini, Steve Guttenberg and others.

“That’s when my involvement with the Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce began again,” Sadrieh said. “I immediately became a member and I worked hard to get on the board.”

In Sadrieh’s line of work, he said that clients not only have to trust him to go into their homes, but to service their computers, which are “the gateway to their lives.” He described the parallel effort of growing his business, while also growing his position on the Chamber, eventually becoming president (a position which is now called the chair), which he hoped would help build that trust.

“I knew that the more effort I put into the community, and the more blood, sweat and tears, literally, into the Chamber, the more fruit I would be able to reap from the trees of my labor,” he said.

Sadrieh spent 15 years on the Chamber board before stepping down about a year before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“When COVID hit, it changed the playing field for the Chamber where they had no choice but to merge with another chamber of commerce or risk closing altogether,” Sadrieh said.

The Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce, facilitated by then-CEO Bob Benton, merged with the Malibu Chamber of Commerce. Benton then asked Sadrieh if he would rejoin. He agreed, and then was asked in 2024 if he would serve as chair of the merged chamber of commerce.

Sadrieh represents both Malibu and the Palisades in his efforts through the Chamber. He urged people to make the trip to Malibu to support still-standing businesses: “It’s for a cause,” noting that business owners need the support at this time.

“If you’ve done business with Malibu, if you’ve gone out there because you like this one store, but now it’s difficult to get to, make the effort,” Sadrieh said. “It’s worth it. You’re going to feel better at the end, the person that has the store is going to feel better. It’s all around, everyone’s going to feel better.”

When it comes to businesses in the Palisades area, Sadrieh said the Chamber’s goal is to host a “big grand reopening party” for those who are reopening—which is what they did at Prima Cantina on May 5.

“Our goal was to make it as big as possible,” Sadrieh said. “The community is coming back, the business community is coming back.”

For more information, visit technologyforyou.com or call 310-597-5984.