Martyna Łuszczek on TVN24 – TVN24 Biznes

Martyna Łuszczek is a student of the American Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Koźmiński Academy in Warsaw. Last year, she was among the 50 best students in the world in the Global Student Prize 2024 competition. However, this is not the end of the achievements of a student from Poland.

– Just a week ago I had the pleasure to stand on the stage of the 21st century polka competition. This is a competition in which Polish women are distinguished, which have already been successful in their professional career. I was also the youngest Polish woman who stood on this stage and the only one born after 2000, among women such as Otylia (Jędrzejczak – ed.), A well -known swimmer or Polish director of “Chłopów” (Dorota Kobiela -Welchman – ed.). And among them my humble person swept somewhere – she said on TVN24.

When asked about the biggest dreams, she admitted that “there are quite a lot of them”. – They resonate somewhere all the time and continue to form. My biggest dream is that the innovations I create can really serve the world. I have a few more awards in my head, say scientific, which I would like to achieve in the future. Certainly, the dream of every scientist who starts his career is the Nobel Prize somewhere in the future. This is something very distant, but also something that accompanies me somewhere in the back of the head – said Martyna Łuszczek.

– I still have a few scholarships in my head, but I don't want to talk about it loudly, so we'll see what life will bring. In fact, I would like what I create at the moment is what I have been building for several years, so that it can be really served by society – she said.

She also told about her first achievements. – Being in the second grade of high school, together with my team I created “Aqua Collector” – a device for collecting and utilizing microplastics from water reservoirs. It was the first and I think that a very breakthrough moment in my, say, a scientific career, where I learned a lot – from design, innovation and such a research approach to the topic that at that time throughout Europe was a new topic and which was not much spoken yet. It was also to meet the needs of the environment, which at the moment is very often degraded, so such an ecological teaser to be able to change something – she said.

– My first job was to help my parents on a farm, but later, at the age of 15, I worked as a waitress at the wedding house, there was also help somewhere in local initiatives, it was something that also accompanied me throughout the entire high school. In fact, I applied for an internship at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, so it was all dispelled during the high school time – she mentioned, when asked about her first professional experience.

Martyna Łuszczek was also involved in work in the Ministry of Digitization. – After writing the final exams, I had the pleasure to come back to cooperation with the administration. Earlier I was on a Govtech internship for high school students and for students and it was very quickly and it turned out that my digitization teaser and knowledge can be helpful here. I had the pleasure to be the youngest in history, the Polish assistant to the Minister of Digitization and I was cyberlective. I traveled around Poland in very small towns in the east of Poland and the west and I was conducting these cybersecurity classes, from digital innovations – she said.

Łuszczek was also asked about how so many duties agreed. – Yes, indeed, I think there is no pattern here, there is no place for diagrams. In addition, I get a job that I have to do every day, which I want to do, so these days are very diverse and start with sunrise and end at late night, but it is every day meeting a lot of inspiring people. It is known that these are also hours spent in the library very often, also in a little human hours, but this is something that drives me somewhere. I really think that my life is stuffed with interesting meetings, interesting initiatives, which I also often try to support now as a person who can continue to inspire someone to act – she said.

One of the best students also referred to the situation of women in a discipline dominated by men. – I laugh that when I entered this area, I learned to squeeze my hand more, entering a room full of men. They very often want to check women's knowledge before they join some further discussions. I just returned to Warsaw from such a hackathon yesterday, where there were 130 programmers and 99 percent they were men. And it was also largely a attention to attention, proving that listen, I am a girl, but I can also help you in this area. This is really a real challenge that you have to get used to for certainty, you need a lot of courage and constipation in yourself to actually pierce this ceiling a little – she said.

She also admitted that her ambitions and goals have changed over time. – When I was a child, I wanted to build a fire station, so I dreamed unconventional. And it really has evolved all the time. I finished high school, I wanted to become a doctor. I got into medicine in Gdańsk. And that was my plan, after which it turned out that Martyna, your calling is somewhere else. And it seems to me that it is that I find myself in these diverse areas and I can achieve many very cool things, this is a large amount of courage to follow my heart and change those decisions that are not very often easy decisions – she said.

Martyna Łuszczek sees his future in the country. – Yes, I would definitely like to stay in Poland. My greatest inspiration for both the scientific and business space is the Polish entrepreneur Rafał Brzoska, who also looks after my career. I have already guaranteed that I would stay in Poland or return to Poland when I develop my wings. It will definitely be a place where I will want to continue using this potential – she said.