SOMA Living November 2021

MEET THE BRITT FAMILY

Photography by Jamie Meier

“We consider ourselves an unlikely and very lucky story. Just like that, he walked into my life,” Marta said. Tom added, “It was 2007, I was 29 and just moved back home to Brooklyn after living in Santa Monica for a few years. I was working in Finance and living the Cali dream. Then the market crashed and I moved back to New York to reinvent myself.” Marta jumped in, “I was 24 and working my first real job at an investment bank in Midtown Manhattan. I was thrilled and relieved to finally work in an office instead of a Trading Floor. Just before I was a floor reporter for the commodities markets on the New York Board of Trade. It was still live trading, just before everything turned electronic and it was like being in a lion’s den. Fun but chaotic and uncertain. Then the markets crashed. In my new office job, everyone was worried. One Friday afternoon, I was reluctantly setting up this new guy’s office - some bachelor from Cali - not realizing that come Monday morning, I was going to meet my future husband.” “We were drawn to each other right away and moved in together in Long Island City, Queens four months later,” Tom laughed. Going back in time, Marta was born in Warsaw, Poland followed by living in Rome, Italy to then landing in Queens at age 7. She expanded “An interesting tidbit is that I lived in John Gotti’s neighborhood when he was in power and Tom likes to tease that this has influenced my demeanor. But all joking aside, you’ll never take the Queens or New York out of me. I went to high school in Manhattan, college at NYU, and am currently finishing my second BA at Parsons in NYC for interior design, so I’ve stayed local since making the move from Europe to the NYC area many years ago.” Tom added, “I grew up in Brooklyn in a close-knit community of family and friends. I went to Xaverian HS, an all-boys Catholic school in Bay Ridge mainly because it was the only high school in Brooklyn with an ice hockey team. Ice Hockey has always been a passion of mine from the time I first laced up my ice skates at age 4 and well into my late 30s in old man beer leagues. I’m proud to say, our older daughters Lucy and Cassie also enjoy playing hockey and rooting on the New York Rangers.”

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