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[11 Mar 2020|06:39pm] |
Bio
Mina Giannakopoulous was born in Chicago on a cold January day. Ever since that winter and she have never really gotten along. As the only child of Stavros and Sofia Giannakopoulous, Mina had her moments of spoiled child - walking around her parents restaurant like she owned it from a very young age. From as soon as she could see over the hostess stand, she worked behind it. It was quick and easy money and let her do exactly what she was built to do: smile big and flirt with every good looking co-ed that came in. So it's what she did. Even at fifteen, Mina knew this is what she could do- use her looks and raise some hell.
Mina did well in school, not super braniac well, but well enough to kind of skate by. From a young age, she loved art in a multitude of forms. She took classes at the Marwen Foundation from the time she was in fifth grade on through high school. While she was in college, she taught the occasional class, mostly in paper sculpture. While she was in college at UIC, she got her MFA in Fine Art. The program at UIC gave her the opportunity to explore a variety of mediums until she found what worked for her. She found her niche in paper- working with it sculpture wise, using photography as a means to make images to work with said paper.
So she worked at Greek Isles all through high school and through her undergrad at UIC. It was quick and easy money, no one minded if she and her friends came in and sat in the back room and had a little too much to drink. The Isles may've been her favorite place: it's where she got her first kiss (Peter Smiros, she was 14), got head for the first time (Ashley Milkovic), had her first threesome (Erik Sanders and Brian Jacobsen- in the back coat room). In her head she's most likely romanticized it... but she's oddly okay with it. She was the queen of the castle, and nobody had it better.
But all good things come to an end. When college was over, Mina realized it was time. Time for her to go and do for herself, time to spread her wings and figure things out. After spending just about a six months doing some traveling- visiting her grandmother in Greece, spending some time couch surfing in NYC with friends. When the school itch hit her again... she knew she had to go somewhere warm. She applied at UCLA on a whim and about fell over when she got in. Too bad she kinda partied her way out. But the perfect wonderful thing was that she met Reid.
Reid Jackson. Rockstar. And, quite honestly, the only man she'd ever loved. When things were good, things were AMAZING. And when things were horrible, they were really fucking horrible. But she loved him. Too bad she loved the party a little more.
When Reid left Mina, she was a mess. It was the top of the downward spiral, her making a fool of herself. The art, all the work she put into it- gone. She was useless, just another street junkie with a shitty attitude. If he didn't love her, no one would. She certainly wouldn't love herself. It took her eight months to realize that her friends in LA weren't friends -they'd rather watch her die so they could get on to the next party- and they almost did.
After calling her dad and begging for help, The Giannakopoulous family had Mina checked into Springwood, outside of Portland OR to start her treatment. After being in Oregon for three months, Mina moved to New York to start again. She didn't know anyone aside from her cousin Petros who lived in Jersey, and there was another center in the family of treatment centers she'd gone to in Chelsea. She was working her steps and trying to keep it all together.
Now the question is, will she?
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