This week's episode introduces Pukhraj Ranjan, an educator and entrepreneur establishing a new ethical fashion brand Moi namaste - that is creating eclectic, timeless pieces combining Indian craftsmanship and Nordic functionality. Pukhraj shares her story of life in Finland that started by pursuing a masters degree in education, finding her first job (listen for the tips), and finally establishing her own business. What led Pukhraj to leave her life-long passion for education to pursue entrepren...
Nov 08, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 67
This week we wanted to join the Halloween madness and record a special spooky episode for you 🎃 This time, Matt talks to Bella de Graves, a Finnish artist, that is fascinated by everything creepy or scary. They discuss horror movies, costume shops, spooky places in Finland, and experiences related to the Halloween celebration in Finland. As the holiday is dedicated to remembering the ones departed, creepy stories associated with ghosts are quite a common element of Halloween. Join us for this e...
Oct 25, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 66
In this episode we introduce Kamilla Sultanova, a Nordic and Uzbek citizen, speaker, entrepreneur, event host, mentor, and consultant in diversity inclusion who enjoys bringing people together and helping them belong. Kamilla talks about how to sustain your own cultural identity whilst living in a new place and especially how to embrace it. Additionally, she underlines the importance of community building in Finland and how long it takes for a person to adapt to life in a country like Finland. L...
Oct 11, 2021•52 min•Season 1Ep. 65
In this week’s episode, Matt speaks with Olivia Kumpula, a Nigerian Youtuber, social media blogger, and entrepreneur who lives in Pori with her husband and her children. Listen to this episode and learn about Olivia's endeavours and their contribution to the international community in Finland.
Sep 27, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 64
In this episode, Petra talks to Ronny Eriksson, a 25-year-old serial entrepreneur and storyteller based in Helsinki, co-founder of the "Norders", a creative agency and community, host of the "New Nordic Wave of Change" podcast, as well as part of the "ReformMigri" team. Ronny focuses on helping companies and individuals, like international students, find their pathways, expand their network, and experience happiness within themselves. Listen to this episode and learn more about Ronny's projects ...
Sep 13, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 63
Reform Migri petition’s goal is to improve Migri's system and service procedures, which has caused a lot of difficulties, stress, and pain. In this episode, Petra talks to Julia, the initiator of the petition and Anuka, a nurse in Finland facing a deportation decision despite fully following the law. We talked about why Julia started this petition and what sort of co-signers support them. You will also hear about the panel conversation they held with their co-signers and Migri’s Director General...
Aug 30, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 62
In this week’s episode, Matt hosts Kätälyst, a multinational rock band based in Espoo. Each of the band’s five members came to Finland independently for education. Although they met online and at Aalto University during their studies in 2010, they did not form the band until 2017. The band gets its name from an earlier group that its founding member started in Pakistan in 2004. Because they met and began playing together in Finland, they decided to go with the Finnish spelling of the name. They ...
Aug 09, 2021•56 min•Season 1Ep. 61
In this episode you will get to meet Early Artis, a teacher and a father living in Finland. He has been all over the world teaching and helping others to learn and integrate into new cultures. He is a member of the Expat Dads in Finland Facebook community and the Fathers in Finland community of Familia ry. Early and Matt discuss the challenges of raising multicultural children and how fathers in Finland can come together to support one another.
Jul 26, 2021•52 min•Season 1Ep. 60
In this episode Petra talks to Folashade, who shares the story of her family and her daughter with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in Finland. Folashade shares all about the complicated process of getting a diagnosis in Finland, about social services available for children and families with ASD, the process of accepting your child's disability, and more. What is ASD? ASD is a complex developmental condition that involves challenges in social interaction, speech, nonverbal communication, and rest...
Jul 12, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 59
In this episode, Jean and Petra meet for the last time to talk about their mastering Finland journey. They reflect on their podcast, their personal lives, Finnish bureaucracy , and towards the end, Jean also shares her secret identity with you. Come and join us in this episode full of laughter and great atmosphere.
Jun 28, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 58
Matt speaks with Licia Prehn, who works in the gaming industry, as a producer, voice actor, and writer in Finland. They are also a board member of We in Games, a podcaster, a radio DJ, and one of the leading accessibility advocates in Finland. Licia moved to Finland about 10 years ago from Pennsylvania for love and a change of scenery. When the relationship did not work out, Licia decided to stay in Finland. They enrolled in a full-time Finnish language course and put down roots. Listen to this ...
Jun 21, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 57
In this episode, Jean talks to Rabea about her Finnish journey including auparing, university tutoring, and exchange studies. They also talked about parenting, and the Parenting with Sisu podcast.
Jun 14, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 56
In this episode, Petra talks to Arseniy Lobanovskiy, who moved to Finland from Russia about 6 years ago. Arseniy talks about his learning of both Finnish and Swedish languages and its impact on fitting within the communities in Finland. Moreover, he sheds a light on the Swedish community in Finland. He also speaks about his battle with depression during his studies and the psychological help he was able to get via his PhD position at the University of Turku. Additionally, we talk about his role ...
Jun 07, 2021•47 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Jean chats with Jessica, who is originally from the UK. Jessica moved to Finland in 2016 to live with her Finnish partner. In this week’s episode, Jean and Jessica talk about volunteer opportunities in Finland and the importance of volunteer work in a functioning society. Jessica noted cultural differences between her family in the UK and her partner’s family in Finland. For example, her family’s tradition of spending evenings in front of the TV with takeaway food was replaced with healthy meals...
May 31, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 54
This week, Petra is joined by Sini Korpinen. Sini is a political podcast host and a municipal election candidate. She visited for a chat about the significance of municipal elections for Finns and foreigners living in Finland and provided clear instructions on how to attend the upcoming municipal elections in Finland. Links: Double Check Voting Eligibility Simple Election Guide Learn More About Finnish Parliament YLE Election Compass in English Election Website of the Ministry of Justice...
May 24, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Moniku began as a temporary project aimed at reducing inequality and usage of rehabilitation services among multicultural families. When the need for Moniku services continued to grow, however, the project was made permanent. Today, Alba serves about 15 families per week. Moniku’s services are important, Alba explains, because multicultural parents might be reluctant to speak their native languages with their child or expose their children to their native cultures. This could be for many reasons...
May 17, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Pedro Bergamo is a singer/songwriter from Brazil who originally moved to Finland for love. In this episode, he shares his deep connection to music, his influences, and his songwriting process. Also, Matt and Pedro also listen to and discuss one of Pedro's latest releases, "Abrahadabra!". Pedro's website: https://pedrobergamo.com
May 10, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Tune in for an informative chat with Carl, an executive consultant and headhunter in Finland. Carl decided to pursue a career in recruitment, a process that had always intrigued him, after a long career in banking and leisure. In his role as a headhunter, Carl conducts targeted searches for candidates that fit a specialized profile. Although many might imagine that headhunters only seek high-level executives for large companies, Carl works for companies of various sizes looking to fill a wide ra...
May 03, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 50
In this episode Aino talks about the Finnish tradition Vappu that is annualy celebrate on May 1st. She also shares many interesting experiences with Armenian culture an answers listeners’ questions. She gives great advice for impressing your Finnish in-laws, as well as important things to keep in mind if you plan on moving to Finland (sneak peak: bring a good pair of boots!)
Apr 26, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Please join us in welcoming Matt, our new co-host at Mastering Finland! Matt moved to Finland for love in 2016. He packed up his life in Maryland, and married his penpal of 10 years! Today, Matt lives happily in Pori with his wife, Sanni, and their son, Edvin. Tune into episode 48 to hear Matt’s story, and to get a sneak peak at what to expect from his upcoming episodes. Be sure to check out our links below where you can find Matt’s online presence. You will also find a link to the non-profit fr...
Apr 19, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Tune into a chat with Roham, originally from Iran, about his experience moving with his wife and daughter to Finland four months ago, in late 2020. To make better personal and professional connections, Roham plans to learn Finnish. Although he is passionate and dedicated about learning the language, his ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) challenges his ability to focus. ADHD can make reading incredibly difficult, affect short-term memory, increase procrastination, and lead to poor t...
Apr 12, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 47
This is the first episode of the "International Authors in Finland" series, and in this episode, we welcome mother and daughter Pamela and Eloisa Spokes. They co-wrote a book together during the first few months of the coronavirus pandemic when Eloisa experienced distance learning and spent lots of time at home with her mum. That's when the idea to create an engaging book for families sparked their minds. Their book "Would You Rather...?" is also translated to the Finnish language and offers exc...
Apr 05, 2021•17 min•Season 1Ep. 46
This week, Jean sat down to chat with Karina, a PhD student of Applied Linguistics at the University of Jyväskylä. Originally from Japan, Karina began her upper secondary education in Australia. There, she experienced quite a bit of culture shock as a result of the louder, more direct Australian culture. In Finland, Karina once again feels at home. Read on, or listen to episode 45, to learn more about Karina’s story.
Mar 29, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 45
In this episode we combined two interviews together to provide you an overall picture of recruitment in FInland enriched by many tips and suggestions on how to improve your job-searching in Finland. In the first part of the interview (0:00-24:25), we talked to Hannah Gay that started her Finnish journey as an intern at The Shortcut, a company you may remember from our previous episode. She currently works as a talent acquisition consultant at Tieto Evry. Hannah shared with us her views on the cu...
Mar 22, 2021•54 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Continuing our series on job-seeking in Finland, Petra chats with Stefan Cave. Originally from the UK, Stefan moved to Finland with his partner in 2019 seeking a better work-life balance. Upon arriving in Finland, he applied his background in HR and operations management to his role as COO at talent accelerator The Shortcut. Tune in to this episode for Stefan’s advice for international job seekers and to learn more about how The Shortcut can help you. You can check out the company’s success stor...
Mar 15, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Iiris Ranta, who recently graduated from the University of Jyväskylä with a master’s degree in intercultural management. While completing her thesis on international talent recruitment and retention in the city of Jyväskylä, Iiris focused on the topics of labour migration and the internationalization of higher education. The results of her thesis support the idea that in order to create successful ecosystems and services for international job seekers, public governance should turn to the knowled...
Mar 08, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 42
This week, we had Doula Danielle on to talk about her experience working as a post-partum doula in Helsinki. Through her personal practice, Mothers Transition, and as a member of The Nest Helsinki International Doulas+, Danielle offers needed support for new mothers and their families. Growing up, Danielle moved around quite a bit. Born in Israel, Danielle also lived in Copenhagen, Finland, and Amsterdam. She recently returned to Finland in August of 2020 with her husband, a Finn, and their four...
Mar 01, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Meet Varpu, your “Finnish fairy godmother.” On her online platform Her Finland, you can find culture-based language courses that will help you master Finnish (or, at least learn enough to get by), as well as tips and tricks for thriving in Finland - from the perspective of a native Finn! We sat down to chat about Varpu’s motivations for building Her Finland, the challenges of building a digital business, and the services she provides. Listen in for details on her upcoming language support course...
Feb 22, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 40
Join us for a chat about Esther's inspiring experience related to learning the Finnish language, working and raising children in Finland, and overcoming the language barrier to gain meaningful employment as a foreigner. She also talks about the loneliness and depression she experienced after giving birth to her children. Finally, Esther shed some light on the unpleasant situations she faced during her internship in an old people’s care home, and when stepping up during a house committee meeting....
Feb 15, 2021•40 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Valentine’s Day is happening soon and we thought we might share a bit about how do people usually celebrate such a day in Finland. In this episode, we talk about the history of Valentine’s Day in Finland, its focus on friendship, how do Finns celebrate this day, and how does a university approach this special day. We also collected a few voice recordings from our dear listeners about how they see the Valentine’s Day in Finland and how they celebrate. Moreover, we couldn’t stop ourselves from ref...
Feb 08, 2021•19 min•Season 1Ep. 38
