When Zakrzewski thinks back to that first performance with the Sault Symphony Orchestra in Canada, she remembers the innate pull she felt towards playing piano in front of a crowd.

“I was feeling on top of the world,” Zakrzewski says. “It was something I could never imagine not having. It’s not a choice.”

At Harvard, Zakrzewski says she practices around four hours a day normally and up to seven hours a day when she is preparing for a concert. Her mentor is Robinson Professor of Music Robert D. Levin ’68, whom she meets with up to once a week during the year.

In addition to the renown Zakrzewski has garnered for her musical talent, amongst her friends and social circles she has also become somewhat of a style icon.

Friends describe Zakrzewski as eccentric—combining a mix of eclectic influences, including her international upbringing in Poland, Canada and New York City, a daring sense of style and a love of fashion and partying.

Potts, who lived across the hall from Zakrzewski freshman year, says she thinks of Zakrzewski’s floor-length, bright red coat as emblematic of her bold fashion sense—which she can carry off because of her petite figure and devil-may-care attitude.

“Her style is something not everyone could pull off. She’s a very forceful character so she doesn’t take anything from anyone,” Potts says about Zakrzewski’s fashion risks. “She’s very confident about whatever she’s wearing.”

Matt L. Butler ’04, another friend from Canaday, says it was Zakrzewski’s fashionista look that first drew him to her.

“As soon as she came in with her characteristic mink coat I knew we would be friends,” Butler says. “She is an eccentric personality. She wears neon pink and cheeta.”

An essential part of this style—and Zakrzewski’s worldly persona in general—is her European background and extensive travel she has done for piano, according to Butler.

He says that he can always count on Zakrzewski for travel tips—even if they are sometimes unorthodox.

Butler remembers asking Zakrzewski what he should see in Tokyo before traveling there and being skeptical when she told him that one of the must-see cultural artifacts were the toilets, which she said had so many buttons and features “you could fly a plane on this toilet bowl.”

“But she was right, and I was like ‘Go Berenika,’” Butler says. “If you want to know anything about a city, go to Berenika.”

This international influence can be seen in Zakrzewski’s music taste, which she insists does not lean towards a single style or composer. Instead, she lists Madonna, Brazilian jazz and Argentinian tango as some types of music she likes—and adds that she also loves dancing to “whatever’s in the club.”

While Potts says she remembers a time freshman year when Zakrzewski did not have a lot of social time and they bonded because Potts was right across the hall, since then Zakrzewski has made having an active social life a priority.