Ania Mlynarczyk

About Ania

Ania was born and raised in Plano, TX however she is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Poland (if you can’t tell by her last name). She relocated to Chicago, IL in the summer of 2020 after graduating from Texas A&M with an engineering degree in Industrial Distribution. Her passions include prioritizing mental health, volunteering at animal shelters (peep her rescue dog Maize), decompressing in nature, and finding joy in the little things.  

IG: @aniam5

High 5 Test Top Strengths

Analyst

Commander

Coach

Deliverer

Time Keeper

Why HMC is important to me

For 23 years, I was a robot that was taught to suppress her emotions and not let anyone see me struggle. I took pride in the fact that even my best friends had never seen me cry. I had gone through traumatic experiences that I never shared with anyone because I didn’t want to seem “weak”. But, in the summer of 2021, I hit rock bottom, and I couldn’t ignore my feelings any longer. That is when I began my therapy journey and finally came to terms with my anxiety, depression, trauma, and everything else that I had been silently carrying on my shoulders for so many years. At first, I was absolutely terrified of what was going to come up. Exploring my feelings? Crying? Digging into trauma? There was a reason I avoided these things for as long as I did. However, I soon realized that with every difficult conversation or realization, came a new understanding of why I am the way I am and how I can break the toxic patterns in my life. I now see my mental health journey as an exploration of myself, and it’s exciting when I connect the dots and find patterns in my past that I can actively work on changing. I am no longer scared of what will come up on any given day, I am curious and welcome it with a nonjudgmental mind.

The first time I saw Dxtr perform his spoken word pieces, I got chills. I had never seen a man be so open and honest about his life and feelings, and it inspired me to be more open and honest about mine. I felt a pull in my gut that this project was something special and it could change lives, mine included. This is the work I was meant to do, it just took me a little while to figure it out. I have seen Dxtr perform many times since that first night, and I still get chills. Every. Single. Time.