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Anna Stepniak was born in Lublin, Poland and immigrated to Canada in the late 1980’s with her older brother and parents, Marian and Elzbieta. The family settled in Windsor, Ontario where the existence of a large Polish diaspora has allowed Anna to maintain her cultural roots and establish close ties to Polish organizations in the community.
Throughout her studies and in addition to part-time employment, Anna continued her community involvement by volunteering for both local and regional organizations. In 2004, she was an intern at Citizenship and Immigration Canada, at which time her interest in government policies and trends, foreign relations, and international affairs was sparked. That same year, Anna volunteered to be part of the organizing committee for Polish Week in Windsor, an event that began as an initiative to promote Polish culture and raise awareness of the existing Polish community in Windsor and surrounding area. Due to the promising success of the event, Anna subsequently took part in the organization of Polish Week in Windsor for 2006. In the summer of 2007, Anna temporarily moved to Etobicoke, Ontario to take part in an internship offered at the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland. In 2009, she joined the Polish Canadian Business and Professional Association of Windsor, and most recently, became a Member of the Executive Board of the Canadian Polish Congress as an assistant to the current Acting President, Jerzy Barycki, with a desire to continue her involvement in Polonia.
In 2007, Anna completed a four-year degree in International Relations and Development Studies at the University of Windsor. She was accepted into a one-year intensive graduate program in Europe, where she was awarded Master of Arts in International Relations at the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies in Brussels, Belgium. Currently, Anna lives in Toronto where she works for Service Canada as a payment service officer for a government initiated employment program that works closely with Canadian employers as a means to preserve employment and discourage mass layoffs.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys dance and has been part of the “Tatry Song and Dance Ensemble” in Windsor for over fifteen years. She also thrives on travelling and exploring new cultures, and has spent several months travelling through New Zealand, as well as a large number of European countries and Northern Africa. To date, Anna has been to over 20 countries but hopes that prospects for future employment will allow her to see much more of the world.