Terry Tegnazian practiced law in Los Angeles for twelve years. She specialized in complex transactions of motion picture financing, both U.S. and international, before leaving to pursue other business and creative endeavors.

She is a graduate of Brown University (A.B. magna cum laude, Applied Mathematics) and Yale Law School. Subsequent to her professional legal career, Terry was Co-Executive Producer of a feature film, an experience which led to pursuing her own creative writing projects.

Terry, who has no Polish background, became interested in the Polish experience of World War II as a result of research for a book she was working on, involving a Polish airman in the Battle of Britain.

Reading memoirs of key Polish Underground leaders, she was moved by the stories of the Poles’ incredible courage during World War II—an aspect of the war she hadn’t previously been aware of. Terry co-founded Aquila Polonica because she felt it was important that such lost stories be restored to history and the wider world. She has visited Poland several times in recent years. For more background, see Terry’s guest blog “I Do This Because…” at No Map, No Guide, No Limits.

In addition to being a hands-on publisher involved in all aspects of each Aquila Polonica title, Terry has written about Poland in World War II for the Wall Street Journal Europe and the Warsaw Business Journal, she’s been interviewed on national television, and has presented numerous live programs in a wide range of venues, including museums and libraries, university courses, at the Polish Consulate (Montreal) and Polish Embassies in Washington, D.C. and Canada. She was co-writer and narrator in the multimedia dramatic performance The Auschwitz Volunteer: Captain Witold Pilecki, which premiered on Broadway as part of the 2018 United Solo Theatre Festival.

In 2012, Terry was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland by decision of the President of Poland, in recognition of her outstanding services to the Polish community and promotion of Polish culture abroad. In 2017, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs awarded her its Bene Merito Award, which was presented at a ceremony in Warsaw in 2018, in recognition of her merits in promoting Poland abroad. In 2014, she received the Polonia Award from the Polish American Congress of Southern California. In early 2015 the Polish American Historical Association awarded Terry the Amicus Polanaie Award, and the Los Angeles City Council honored her with the 2015 Pioneer Women of the Year Award.

In addition to her work with Aquila Polonica, Terry is an active community volunteer and has been a founder and/or on the board of directors of several local nonprofit organizations, including most recently the Los Angeles Musical Salon. Terry is married and lives in Los Angeles, California.