Doing many things at once is a challenge of its own. However, some people do that admirably. It’s our pleasure to introduce Kim Oguilve – a mother and CMO who has balanced her family life and career exceptionally well.
Kim Oguilve has been able to successfully mix family and business. She is a 30-year-old mother of 3 children, and besides her many hobbies, including crafts, enjoying Finland’s nature, cycling and swimming, she is the Chief Marketing Officer of Maria 01.
Her journey from tropical Costa Rica to Finland took a while and had its twists and turns, but she is now happy to call this northern country home. You can read more about what she has learned from Finnish culture from her article on Medium: What Finland Taught Me About Life & Business In Eight Years
We don’t have diverse boards in Finland, and that’s a problem
One of the cornerstones of the Prönö platform is its focus on values. Kim says that her values are diversity, empathy, learning and creativity. After talking with her, it is obvious that these values suit Kim extremely well.
“When it comes to diversity, I feel that it’s something I have always been exposed to. My home country, Costa Rica, is extremely diverse, and you can’t really say what a Costa Rican looks like because they can look like anything.”
Having lived in Finland for eight years, she has learned to see the value of diversity. For Kim, diversity is not just a value she holds important, but a value that her organization, Maria 01, truly promotes.
“At Maria 01, we ran a community value process this spring. We need our values to be part of our strategy as well. One of our four values is that we are an international and diverse community, so we are working together for that goal with our partners and members.”
On the Prönö platform, Kim has expressed interest in taking on a board position. She is worried about how boards in Finland are too often filled with people with similar backgrounds and knowhow. (You can read more about how Prönö helps organizations find board members here.)
“I hadn’t been part of a board previously, but a couple of weeks ago I was invited to be part of a steering group”, Kim says and continues, “Many of the boards I have seen are very homogenous in the kind of people that they have. Not only culture-wise but also skills-wise.”
Kim notes that when we are talking about diversity and inclusion, board-level conversations must be had as well. We must challenge the status quo and go beyond just thinking about the needed actions, by starting to live by them as well. “We don’t have diverse boards in Finland”, Kim says, “and that’s a problem.”
Putting yourself into other people’s shoes
“For me, empathy comes from my background, Kim explains. “I’m really a person that values fairness in everything I do. It’s about being transparent to colleagues at work and understanding that we all have had different life experiences and different life situations. Putting yourself into other people’s shoes is a very good thing to do. That really helps to understand where people are coming from.”
Learning is something Kim does every day. Kim says that her brain is like a sponge, and on most days she just wants to learn it all. That’s a key to understanding different industries and concepts, and this approach helps her be better at what she does – every day.
The fourth value Kim picked, creativity, is strongly tied to this because learning is how many of the world’s best innovations are born. “When people learn many different things, and then they start thinking about how they can apply their knowledge to creating something, that’s how really valuable innovations are created”, Kim says.
More women in tech are needed to create a better world for future generations
At Prönö, we speak a lot about values and dreams. We want people to say their dreams out loud, because that way, they may turn into reality. Kim shares this view and sincerely speaks about how to make the world a better place.
“We live in a world that has been mainly crafted by men, and men are the default for so many things. I want that to be a bit more balanced”, Kim notes. She dreams of being a part of a world where more women are starting tech companies. “That’s something I would really love to see, and something future generations deserve.”
For Kim, working at Maria 01 is an important way to work towards this goal. Maria 01 is a community for tech startups, venture capitalists and large enterprises. For startups, they want to offer the best entrepreneurial journey possible. You can read more about Maria 01 here.
Kim works as a Chief Marketing Officer and has been in that position for 3,5 years. “We have two people in marketing, and we do everything regarding marketing, branding, communications and PR initiatives at Maria 01”, Kim explains. They also host a wide variety of events and offer many services for their partners and members.
“Our vision is for all startups in Finland to have a place where they can successfully dream, try out new ideas, sometimes fail, start again, and find their way to growth and success.”
