“The best part of living and working in Kainuu is definitely combining work and leisure.” Mari Määttä
I am Mari Määttä and I work as a project manager at Kajaani University of Applied Sciences in the Future Entrepreneurs from Kainuu project. In the three-year project, we promote student entrepreneurship in the region, among other things, by developing entrepreneurship studies and teachers’ entrepreneurship education skills. I was born in Kajaani and moved back with my family in 2017.
I graduated from the University of Lapland with a Master of Science in Economics. During my studies, I worked in clothing and sports stores. I have always been interested in fashion and sports, which has strongly guided me on my career path. After graduating, I moved from Rovaniemi to Helsinki and got a job at a company that imports snowboarding clothing and equipment. As a sales assistant, I got to know the world of purchasing and next applied for a job at Stockmann in fashion purchasing. At Stockmann, I worked, among other things, as a Planner, responsible for budgeting and planning the product group and the selection together with the buyer. After moving back to Kajaani, I continued working in fashion at R-Collection as a sales and marketing manager.
The highlights and challenges of my career are both related to my current job. The most challenging time has probably been finding my current job. My career had been built up for a long time in the fashion and retail industry and I was in a situation where I wanted to do something completely different, but I just didn’t know what. It has always been important to me that the content of the work is interesting and meaningful to me. Eventually the idea became clear and now, as a project manager, I get to work on the development of Kainuu, which is meaningful to me. It is also refreshing to be on the edge of something completely new and to learn.
My current employer allows for hybrid work very flexibly, and I can plan my working day very much myself. There is also flexible working hours and the possibility of using vacation leave flexibly, which makes it possible to combine work and personal life very well.
I definitely encourage you to move to Kainuu! In my experience, work and leisure time are more balanced here compared to the years I spent in Helsinki. When you don’t spend time sitting in traffic jams, you have more time for family, friends and hobbies after a working day, which also helps you recover from a working day. I like that everything is easily accessible, such as the ski trails that are important to you. It is also very easy to go on a trip from here, both south and north. And you can always get away from here, even if you don’t settle here. There are also communities of female professionals here, where you can network and make new friends. I definitely encourage you to try life in Kainuu!
I find the Kainuu work culture relaxed and approachable. People here know each other well, which enables agile operations between different parties. I also like that things are said directly. The best part of living and working in Kainuu is definitely combining work and leisure. Everything is close by and there is nature everywhere. The cultural offerings are also excellent. Many of my childhood friends have also moved back and I am lucky to have a close-knit group of friends with whom we do a lot of things in our free time.
Text and photos: Mari Määttä