Nice to meet you, I'm Anna

Let’s do a quick introduction round: I’m Anna, a retired stand-up comedian and an Indiana Jones wannabe. A management consultant, coach, mother, spouse. A Haukipudas native who has settled in Turku.

I’m practicing moving away from Instagram, and maybe this platform could become my new main social media!

My career history is an unusual mix of humanities and technology. My roots are in Anthropology and cultural heritage studies. I minored in Archaeology and Museology, and my original goal was to build an academic career in Maya studies.

Things turned out differently.

Through various coincidences, I ended up writing my master’s thesis on virtual memorials, which fascinated me so much that I continued the topic in my PhD. In my research, I studied the digitalization of death rituals on platforms like Second Life, World of Warcraft, Facebook, YouTube, Irc-Galleria, international memorial sites, and many others. I completed my dissertation in 2014.

Alongside my PhD, I felt the urge to do more applied work than an academic career could offer. I also don’t tolerate the financial instability of academia very well, so early on, I started testing my wings in Service Design. That rabbit hole pulled me in completely, and in 2016, I made a permanent move to the private sector.

My expertise cuts across human understanding in technology, business, design, and strategy development. My day job is in management consulting at Un/known, and on the side, I coach and train under my company, Havainna.

On this account, you’ll find a lot about academic career coaching, as I trained as a solution-focused coach, and my mission is to help other Ph.D’s and creative knowledge workers recognize their skills and find their path—whether that’s in academia or beyond.

I’m also a sci-fi nerd,, recently returned to dancing after 25 years, absolutely terrible at gardening, a rescue dog owner, and impossibly good at getting things done when I get truly excited about them (or when a deadline is looming).

Welcome! Who are you? 😊