Who am I?
I am 35-year-old deputy councillor of the Centre Party in Helsinki and a member of the Culture and Leisure Committee.
I work as a public relations director in an international pharmaceutical company and live in Lauttasaari with my spouse. We are expecting our first child this spring.
For me, municipal politics is about people's wellbeing, nature as well as work and entrepreneurship.
My mother is a textile artist and my father is an entrepreneur. Growing up, our family’s income was sometimes scarce. But our parents taught us that a person’s worth can’t be measured by money: it’s love and caring which count. These life basics shouldn’t be left aside in one’s private life or politics. Especially, in this harshening political climate, empathy and tolerance are important building blocks for our society.
Before my current position I worked several years in politics as a special advisor for ministers as well as a political journalist. My very first summer job was on our neighbor’s strawberry farm. In high-school I financed by studies by working as a cleaner.
I spent my childhood in Leppävirta, Northern Savonia. For some years I lived abroad conducting my bachelor’s studies at Uppsala University in Sweden and living and working in Australia for one year.
I cherish breakfasts with my loved ones, deep conversations over a glass of wine and jogs in the beautiful Finnish nature.
Municipal Elections: Helsinki can do better
I love Helsinki and it is a great city in many ways. However, I believe that Helsinki can do better. During the upcoming council term, Helsinki must set clear goals that it will strive for in all its activities during the upcoming council term and monitor the achievement of these goal.
My goals and target outcomes for Helsinki:
1. Helsinki has the best schools and daycare centers in Finland
Target outcome: 98 per cent of young people in Helsinki receive an upper secondary school leaving certificate (at present, one in ten young people born in Finland do not have a post-comprehensive school qualification).
2. The well-being of Helsinki residents will increase
Target outcome: 70% of Helsinki residents feel that their quality of life is good (the proportion of people who feel that their quality of life is good on average has fallen from 60.5% in 2020 to 56.2% in 2023)
3. The state of local nature will improve and greenery will increase in Helsinki
Target outocme: 30% canopy coverage when building new or renewing old residential areas (canopy cover in Helsinki has decreased by 15% from 1970 to 2010 and is only 4% in some areas. An international recommendation of 30 per cent has been set for the canopy cover of city districts).
4. Helsinki is an better city to employ and work as an entrepreneur
Target outcome: Entrepreneurs' satisfaction with the entrepreneurial orientation of the City of Helsinki is doubled from the current 9 per cent to 20 per cent (according to the Entrepreneur Barometer conducted by the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, Helsinki is currently last in terms of entrepreneurial orientation when comparing the 21 largest cities)
5. Employment in Helsinki improves in all population groups
Target outcome: Unemployment rate is turned downwards in all population groups, with a special focus on reducing unemployment among immigrants (in August 2024, the unemployment rate in Helsinki was 11.7%, youth unemployment was 10.4% and unemployment among immigrants was 23.8%)