Brief Bio

I was born on a beautiful morning in Wroclaw, a beautiful city in southwest Poland. I lived there for 7 years before my family decided to immigrate to Southern California. I came to this state, which I still call my home, when I was 7, speaking only a handful of English words such as: dog, girl and garden. The first year of my stay here was a nightmare. My sister, Zosia, and I were thrown from school to school before finally ending up at Bret Harte Elementary in Burbank. My brother was born about this time, and my whole 5 person family lived in a one bedroom apartment. Most of what I remember of my first two years in elementary school can be summed up in one word: heat. I struggled to learn English and remember going through the entire 3rd grade without saying a single word except for yes or no. I also remember ESL, where Zosia and I were the only non Spanish speaking students. We got to learn how to say the date and the "Food of the Day" in English among many other useful things.

Then came 4th grade. Even though I purposely failed the GATE (gifted and talented education) test I was still placed in a GATE class. This was the slow beginning of my changing person. I ended up in classes with those same people all the way through 8th grade. 4th and 5th grades flew by rapidly. I remember joining the chorus and learning the 50 states in alphabetical order :-)

Finally came Luther Burbank Middle School. Placed in a GATE track I stayed with mostly the same people all throughout my 3 years there. This enabled us to form lasting friendships. Among the many vivid memories of my middle school career there are hard to single out a few. Classes, teachers, friends, enemies... The event during those years that impacted my life in a rather large sense was joining the Luther Band. It was a spur of the moment idea brought about by my best friend. Though I hadn't a slightest idea how to play any instrument she soon set about to teaching me the flute. After the initial month (here it is not an exaggeration) of struggling to make a sound the rest went pretty smoothly. I learned to love to play and even signed up to be in the High School band after I graduated. The only stop to this ambition was the fact that we moved.

Torrance, California was our next destination and it is still my current home. Leaving behind 6 years worth of friends was not at all easy but it had to be done. We moved in August, I started Torrance High School that fall. I managed to get into a series of honors courses and eventually meet new friends. But the bond between us was not as strong as that between my friends in middle school. The funny part is that I no longer keep in contact with most of them. And recently I met one of my middle school guy friends at USC, though we haven't seen each other in 7 years, we recognized each other instantly.

High school flew by fast. Same old deal as middle school: classes, teachers, friends, enemies... During my sophomore year I joined the tennis team but lasted on it only a year. I also joined the Krakusy Polish Folk Dance Ensemble, which I'm still a member of though I tend to quit it for a spell and then come back again. Besides Krakusy, I became involved in the Polish Scouts of Southern California and stayed with that organization for a couple years before quitting.

The summer between high school and college was a pretty eventful one. I ended up going with my dance group to Italy for the Polish National Pilgrimage. We were supposed to dance for Pope John Paul II but unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, could not. The whole pilgrimage was a remarkable experience. The rest of the summer we spend in Poronin in the Tatra mountains with Krakusy and with my own friends and family. It was a great transition from High School to College.

After high school, I started USC (University of Southern California). It was the best school that accepted me and since I figured I might as well go into business (since I had not the slightest idea what I wanted to do) USC became the ideal choice. My freshman year was pretty uneventful but starting in my sophomore year things picked up. I ended up choosing the Information Systems emphasis and then, after realizing I have units left over, adding a Global Marketing one. I graduated from USC in 2004. After about 10 months of searching for a job, I finally ended up at Dimensional Fund Advisors as a Research Assistant. It's a great company with great people and a great location, so I am very, very happy!

Thanks to my wonderful boyfriend, I have also recently gotten very much into horseback riding. You can see some pictures of me and my sweet pony Sky under the Photo Album page.

Ok, so that's about all about me. It turned out to be a bit lengthier than I thought it would be but since you are reading these last lines I must have not bored you completely :-)