About

I am originally from Poland, and came to the States just in time to be enrolled in a junior high school in Chicago, where I spent the first three years before moving to Southern California. I feel that being an immigrant, even as a young teen-ager, shaped much of my later life in school, personal life and professionally. Leaving all that you know behind and moving to a totally new country with just two suitcases in hand and without any knowledge of language and culture of where you are going, teaches you to be unafraid of taking risks, equips you with the perseverance to achieve things like acceptance in a new cultural system, and provides you with a unique ability to adapt to changing situations.

I was born in a historical city of Bytom which received it’s city rights in 1254, and has been an industrial city for hundreds of years. Here I attended elementary school, took piano lessons and French lessons, and have great memories of going to the nearby amusement park, the zoo, and the planetarium with my parents. So, it was not that much different than what most American kids do here. Some exceptions were that I had to go to school on Saturdays, and I got to march in May 1 parades and celebrate the Russian Revolution in the fall!  I spent winters skiing in the mountains and summers hiking and swimming in rivers.

I came to San Diego to attend UCSD, fell in love with this city and decided to stay here after graduation. It’s here that I was introduced to my husband, Tom, and where we spent 28 years now raising our family which includes Tom’s daughter, who lives in Wyoming with her family, and our son Tom, who is now pursuing an exciting skateboarding career!

We settled in the University City area where we are very involved in our neighborhood working on protecting it’s surrounding environment, which includes the Rose Canyon preserve, from further development.