In 1969, Tony Kusturic, his wife and infant daughter came from Europe to the US with $50 in his pocket. It was a radical time, where equal rights protests were on the rise, the failures of the Vietnam war was dividing the country, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated and it was the beginning of the era of Peace and Love where over 400,000 young people went to experience the Woodstock music festival. To believe it was an easy task to make it in the US was an understatement but Tony was determined.

Working 3 jobs to support his family and believing in his values, Tony was able to accomplish the American dream!  Getting his hands dirty wasn’t a problem! He was a bus boy and dishwasher at the Ridgewood Diner and a janitor at the Bowery Savings Bank in NYC. Working any hours that were available, Tony sweated and saved. He was offered a position as a factory worker in a Ridgewood, Queens knitting mill. There he stocked yarn and packaged goods. Gradually, he observed and learned the skills to maintain and repair a variety of knitting machines. Furthermore he became a self-taught electrician and eventually began to pursue his desire of opening his own knitting mill. Only 10 years later after his arrival to the USA, in 1978, Tony opened A&K knitting mill in Ridgewood, Queens with only 3 employees. Multi-tasking to keep his costs down and with great ambition those 3 employees turned into 300 and a move to a larger facility in Long Island, New York.  Manufactured goods from A&K were distributed in Macy’s, JCPennies, as well as Disney and Ritz Carlton hotels to name a few. To this day you will still see him working next to his employees or with a broom in hand making sure everything is as tidy as it could be.