Judit has been acknowledged as one of Australia's premiere business women. Her Madame Korner Salons and Colleges are bywords in beauty treatment and training. One of her greatest achievements has been in her efforts in drawing attention to the life-threatening effects of the sun's rays on the skin.
As refugees Judit and her mother were held in a camp in Europe until it was their turn to board an old troop carrier loaned to the United Nations to transport refugees to new lands and new hopes.
They chose Australia because it was so far from upheavals in Eastern Europe. The voyage was full of foreboding for the young Judit who recalls: "My mother was sick in the ship's hospital. I was a little girl, on my own, trying to learn English for a new country."
"I became an Australian a long time ago, Every year, Australia Day means so much more to me..."
Her first impressions of Australia were a far cry from expectations. The reality of the Australian land in the 1950s was stark, traumatic and very, very lonely.
Today, Judit is one of a generation of immigrants who now enjoy success in Australia on their own terms while openly celebrating their cultural identities.
She is one of fifty Australians whose inspirational lives are chronicled in the book 'A Fair Go: Portraits of the Australian Dream' (Focus Publishing) by well-known author, academic and businesswoman Wendy McCarthy.
McCarthy says 'A Fair Go' celebrates Australian Citizenship through the "voices and experiences" of a selection of migrants who subsequently became Australian citizens. Among others these include broadcaster Caroline Baum, boxer Kostya Tszyu, winemaker Wolf Blass, artist Judy Cassab, businessman Sir Arvi Parbo, author Ariene Chai, politician Petro Georgiou, design Akira Isogawa, journalist Dai Le, several times Businessman of the Year and tireless charity worker Paul Simons and the Honourable Jim Spigelman QC, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of NSW.
Former NSW Premier Neville Wran said "A 'fair go' is what we all expect”, but explains further that the achievements of these fifty great Australians illustrate that "a fair go is all we need."
Judit's story is a triumph of fortitude and vision. Even on the ship to Australia she noticed that the women refugees still managed their to give themselves regular facials.
"I was stateless, I was a refugee. It was not a question of 'shall I give up my citizenship?' I became an Australian wholeheartedly."
"The refugees were a mismatched group of people, from scientists to linguists, from opera singers to labourers, with all the women making face creams from butter, eggs and honey that the ship's kitchen had in abundance. This made a deep impression on Judit who later helped pay her way through school by working in a pharmacy, a period which further enhanced her interest in make-up and beauty treatments. Judit also studied dentistry but decided her vocation was a career in beauty care.
Judit considers her greatest professional achievement is to have increased awareness of the damage to the skin by the unforgiving sun. "I have made people aware of how important skin care is, it's not something frivolous, but something important, which has been now been proved beyond a doubt. The statistics show that the number of melanomas detected in Australia far outweigh those in other countries."
She is proud that the Madame Korner training college has graduated hundreds of successful students who are considered the elite in the beauty therapy industry and the workforce.
