Valikko 

Briefly in English

Welcome to my home page!

I am a Member of Parliament, leader of organisations, and mother from Southwest Finland. I was born in 1986. My spouse Sami works as an entrepreneur and our family lives on the Hirvensaloisland in Turku. Combining an active, everyday family life and a hectic working life, as well as travelling between two cities, are something I have become very familiar with in the past decade through my work in the Parliament.

My educational background includes the degrees of Master of Economic Sciences (Economics and Business Administration) and Master of Arts (Futures Studies). My studies emphasised the same themes that I have carried with me also in my advocacy work: sustainable development, social responsibility, internationality.

Prior to joining the Parliament, my work included, among others, marketing duties in the food industry, political duties in the Parliament, charity work for the university hospital children’s clinics. I have also worked as an entrepreneur in my own company.

Joining politics

I joined the world of politics through sports. For several terms, I was chairperson for Turun Riento – a sports club with long traditions. Thanks to this position, national sport policy representatives showed confidence in me and a few years later I was asked to run in the local elections.

After careful consideration I decided to take up the challenge and, as it turned out, I was elected to the Turku City Council by a pleasantly high number of votes for a first timer. Due to my background in sports activities, I was offered the chair in the board of physical education. In the 2012 local elections, I received over 1,000 votes and acted as member of the city executive board, among other duties. In the years to follow, I have had the pleasure of working in several positions of trust for the benefit of my dear hometown and the entire Southwest Finland.

My journey to Parliament

In 2011 I ran for Parliament for the first time. I got nearly 4,000 votes – a great result for a young novice. On my own list, I was in fifth place, reaching the first position right after the four members of the present parliament. Unfortunately, we lost one seat in southwestern Finland and I became a deputy member. Regardless of that, being part of the parliamentary elections was a great experience.

In the 2015 elections my long-held wish came true as I was elected MP! My parliamentary work continued in 2019 following my re-election. The focal areas in my work as an MP has been in the politics of the environment, climate, and energy – both in terms of national legislation and EU regulations. In addition, I have worked hard to promote equality, human rights, and international development.

In the course of my political career, I have learned that many themes important to me need their defenders. Development is less linear than it seemed in the early 2010s. Equality, human rights, sustainable development, and democracy are areas that we have noted to backpedal somewhat from time to time. Thus, advocacy work is in great demand – maybe now more than ever. I want to be part of advancing these themes and making the future world a better place. Parliament is the right place for this.

Working in politics requires perseverance. Advocating sometimes includes frustration, but – luckily – also important moments of success from time to time. Climate change is no longer a topic for marginal groups, and I am happy to say that my own work has had an impact on, for example, advancing in the protection of the Baltic Sea both regionally, nationally, and internationally. Many municipalities have taken up the challenge of leisure activity guarantee for children, and now the model is being extended to the national level. My initiative to decrease the number of non-compete agreements finally became legislation. In politics, nobody can carry their suggestions all the way to completion on their own, so I have been active in launching and confirming a number of cross-party workgroups and initiatives in Parliament.

In addition to my parliamentary work, I hold strategic executive positions in several national organisations and company boards.

You can read more about my background and my positions of trust in my LinkedIn profile.

Internationality

The aspect of internationality has always been of great importance to me. Already as a child, me and my family lived abroad on several occasions, and I attended an international school for a year in Germany as a primary pupil. My studies included a one-year bout of European practical training in Copenhagen; student exchanges in Sweden at the Linköping University and in the US at UC Berkeley; as well as a course at the seminar organised by the UN International Management Institute in Amman enabled by a scholarship I received. After graduating from the School of Economics, I worked in international marketing and international relations have had a key role also in my political career. I take active part in EU politics as a Grand Committee member. In connection with my numerous international positions of trust I work actively and globally in matters of development policy and foreign policy.

You can find some of my publications in English here.