You studied interaction design at Malmö University and the Queensland University of Technology about ten years ago. After that, you’ve worked with design, communication, and project management – primarily within adult education and agencies. To me, that sounds like a perfect combination, to use design and communication to help others to grow.
– I agree! I love design work, but I wanted to be able to make a difference and keep developing after my degree was finished, not least within leadership, so I focused on finding ways and contexts where I had the chance to keep growing.
What was the most fun and rewarding during all these years as a designer, communicator, and project manager?
– Oh, there’s so much to choose from. A small but funny anecdote is from when I was writing copy as a freelance and interviewed Pia Sundhage, the famous soccer coach, about leadership. I was so nervous I barely remembered what she said. I also interviewed the national treasure Lill-babs but accidentally called her in the middle of her Midsummer’s day celebrations – she handled my faux pas with grace, though!
– The most rewarding projects have been working with Ukrainian and Syrian refugees, helping them get closer to the Swedish job market, and of course, creating and leading Sweden’s first community college game design program. Many students who started there now work at studios like Massive Entertainment, Sharkmob, and King.
Interesting! Another exciting thing about your background is that you’ve worked extensively with storytelling and performance. Poetry slam, spoken word… and metaphor wrestling?
– Haha, yes, the metaphor wrestling was a performance show built on Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, where you are supposed to outdo each other in constructing metaphors. My colleagues at the time remade the concept from the books into an interactive stage show that spread over Sweden and Europe for a short while. The basis for the project was that we wanted to help young creatives to start their own cultural scenes and create their own shows. It was great fun! My roles were mainly as a web designer and metaphor wrestler on stage.
And now you have just started at Ambition! What are you looking forward to the most?
– Getting to know my new colleagues and learning from them! There is so much knowledge and understanding, and people who are genuinely skilled at what they do at Ambition. I’m thrilled and excited about starting!
Welcome, Lovisa! Looking forward to being your colleague! 💜
