Artist, author, designer, entrepreneur, filmmaker, and soon-to-be music manager can all be complied into one word, or, name: Paola Ivana Suhonen. The multitasker shared her successful life story in the inspiring keynote speech Making my future – Case Ivana Helsinki at Arcada’s recruitment event My Future Work 30 January.
Ivana Helsinki, founded 1998 by Paola and her sister Pirjo Suhonen, started out as a personal art project of childhood memories, and by time, developed to a way of living. Today Paola sees the brand as a playful platform where her dreams and reality meet.
- Being an entrepreneur means freedom to me. To be the one in charge gives me ultimate freedom to create, but at the same time, it comes with great responsibility, Suhonen explains.
Working as an entrepreneur is for Suhonen a way of living rather than a profession. It requires a lot of determination to create this life style. According to Suhonen, who grew up in an entrepreneurial family, anyone can become an entrepreneur no matter if you have it in your blood or not.
- To be able to make my own future I always have to balance freedom and responsibility, hard work and time off, problem solving, and a feeling of never ending work. Like sweet pain you have to learn to enjoy, she says with a smile.
The importance of learning and developing is always central in an entrepreneur’s life, and at the moment Suhonen is challenging herself with studies in music management at Arcada.
- Through the studies, I am getting more practical knowledge from the music field. It is a flexible way of studying, which suits my life very well, she says, smiling again.
Paola Suhonen has an exceptional skill to bring out the sensitive and humane side of her subjects as well as creating strong poetic and ambient worlds. This shows in her fashion films, documentaries and fictional films. Suhonen has won the prestigious Student Emmy prize and she remains the only Finn nominated or winning the prize. The artist has also received a Pro Finlandia medal for her meritorious work as an artist. Suhonen has collaborated with a numerous Finnish and international corporations, for example Coca-Cola, Uniqlo, Swarowski, Topshop, Google, Sokos Hotels, Nokia, Rovio/Angry Birds.
