Annie Sragner’s path to becoming the chief of staff for American Cell Technology began when she enrolled at TU in 2012—she just didn’t know it yet.

Sragner ’16 leads the sales team, helps problem-solve and ensures efficiency at the Florida-based company, which is the largest personal stem cell bank in the U.S. She also facilitates trainings with doctors to help them scale their practices and demonstrate the value of stem cell therapy services to their patients.

“I’d always been curious about stem cells,” she says. “There’s nothing safer than putting your own cells back into your body. When I saw the results, that’s when I knew I wanted to build my career here. Being able to bring this therapy to the world is such an incredible, rewarding feeling.”

Sragner’s journey to promoting stem cell therapies was a series of winding paths, filled with curiosity and wonder and marked by questions about who she could become and what it meant to be a scientist and creative communicator.

It was through her work at the Towerlight, the student-run newspaper for TU students, that she found her voice.

Exploring Science Through Creativity

As the Arts and Life editor during her senior year at TU, Sragner created The Big Picture, an opinion column centered around human evolution and the questions and reflections she derived from her biological sciences courses.

Her column became a fan favorite at TU, even garnering fan mail and prompted her to start a syndicated radio show on TU’s XTSR with her friend and collaborator Serena Shapero. During their weekly show, Sragner and Shapero took the week’s column topic and dissected it in more detail through conversation.

“We would have such deep and meaningful conversations—I left [the studio] feeling elated and excited from what we’d accomplished,” she says. “My pursuit of science was creating something I would share with the world.”

The Big Picture was a jumping-off point for Sragner, enabling her to discuss human evolution and human experience through a creative lens—something she originally shied away from when she first pursued a degree in STEM because of the fear of not being successful as both a creative and a scientist.

The Towerlight is the reason I am here today. They believed in me and coached me. They taught me so much about the ethics of how to connect with other people, how to problem-solve and work creatively as a team. Being part of that team totally changed my life.

ANNIE SRAGNER

Paving her path beyond TU

While nurturing her passion for science and communication, Sragner was a member of TU’s Praying Mantis Lab and the D.C. Science Writers Association (DCSWA). It was through a DCSWA conference that she learned of Sandbagger News, a group from North Dakota focusing on creative documentaries.

For six months after graduating from TU, Sragner lived in North Dakota working for Sandbagger. She helped create documentaries focused on the human–environment relationship, an exploratory phase that was critical to her career development.

“After you graduate no one teaches you to know what to do next—I learned it's okay to not have it figured out and to not jump into your dream job after graduation. I just knew I wanted to use my powers for good.”

There’s something special about the people who go to Towson University. Your uniqueness is cherished and celebrated at TU—and there are so many ways to express it.

ANNIE SRAGNER

Her experience in North Dakota prompted her to move to New York City, where she served as an editor for Fyxes, a tech news publication. By chance, Sragner worked next door to a Tesla store, when the company was still very new in the automobile industry. Out of curiosity, Sragner applied.

She proceeded to work at Tesla for four years, even becoming the No. 4 salesperson in the nation.

“That’s where I fell in love with sales. I felt like I was a detective, digging into my prospects’ stories, uncovering what motivates them and piecing together how to close a deal. It felt like a natural extension of my journalism roots."

Although she enjoyed her unexpected foray into the tech field, Sragner deeply missed science. So she sought out a new path that would combine her love for science and communication with her newfound passion for sales and solutions.

In 2023, Sragner discovered American Cell Technology, which offers clients the ability to store their stem cells in the event of future medical hardships.

The timing, she says, couldn’t have been more perfect.

“Because of the way I was able to forge my own path at TU, I was able to do that here,” she says of her work at American Cell Technology. “There’s something special about the people who go to Towson University. Your uniqueness is cherished and celebrated at TU—and there are so many ways to express it.”