I have long been a student of different cultures both through my academic qualifications and my own lived experience. This international journey, which I started as a Lions Exchange Youth during a summer in high school, has taken plenty of interesting twists and turns in many different countries. 

My academic qualifications include:

• M.A. in East Asian Studies from the University of Helsinki; and
• PhD in Chinese archaeology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

• Estonia
• the US,
• China,
• Germany,
• Syria, and 
• Iceland.

I’ve often said that I have had three distinct stages in my professional life. I dedicated years pursuing an academic career. Then I switched to research management with a focus of attracting international researchers to Finland. After that, I started by my third career as an Intercultural Trainer, and Expat Career and Transition Coach. Finnwards is the result of that. My career has, however, now made a loop of sorts again as I am again a graduate student. This time in the Doctoral Programme in Language Studies of the University of Helsinki studying job interview interaction. Therefore Finnwards has also changed shape.

My consulting and training expertise is based on these varied experiences as over the years I have

• managed teams both large and small in Finland and in Syria,
• worked in culturally diverse teams in these and other countries, 
• been responsible for large budgets and international recruitment programs,
• taught adults and university students both in Germany and in the US, 
• been given access to archaeological materials no other Western archaeologist had studied before in China, and
• successfully managed a large team in Syria without even having a common language with my team!