Hi Minni! Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m a rather free spirit working with things I enjoy and believe in. I live in Helsinki with my two pre-teens and two spanish rescue dogs. Last year I fell in love with someone I never thought I’d met. I’m happier than ever and feeling very lucky and safe in everything i pursue.
How was your journey to become Vegan? Are there any challenges and has it changed over the years?
I have always loved animals and in my twenties I started to think about the contradiction of eating them. It seemed too hard to make changes in my habits then but when I got pregnant with my first child I got more sensitive and quit eating most meat. For several years I still ate fish & dairy products. At some point there started to be more news and articles about the environmental impacts of consuming animal products and that felt like a reason I could bravely say out loud if I wanted to eat only vegan foods. Somehow I had been scared of being teased for standing up for animals. A bit sad, right… But happy and in peace with my food choices now.
You used to have a vegan channel/vlog, could you tell us a bit about that?
About six-seven years ago we wanted to find new work opportunities with my friend Paju and create something that had to do with videos. The vegan part came by accident. We had both recently started eating vegan and decided to concentrate on easy recepies and fun, non-judgemental content. That seemed to be missing in Finland. That worked out well and we made youtube videos for a living for four years. We decided to quit when we were in a good vibe with eachother and our channel but realized we had gotten a bit bored of our concept. We are still very proud of ’PS Olen vegaani’ (PS I’m vegan) and so happy for all the communication we experienced with our followers and for all the great brands that believed in us. Great, inspiring times !
Any new projects you are working on now?
Right now I’m super happy to be planning our future away from the city. We bought a plot in Karjaa and we are going to build a house there. I’m doing my best supporting my partner with his amazing vintage furniture company, Roomage, that is moving to Karjaa already this summer, well before us!
We have been doing some short fleamarket road trips together and last month we stumbled upon a huge collection of old baseball caps… it seemed like a fun ”little” project, so now I have been assisting with going through, taking pics and helping sell these 1500 vintage caps. Hot tip! There is a combined vintage cap sale (@thousandcaps) & moving sale starting at Roomage in Kruununhaka this Friday!
Where do you get inspiration from?
I feel inspired when I’m feeling good. Nature, movement, love, deep breaths, good goofy people and enjoying the little things always get me on a good mood so I guess those inspire me.
Any wishes for people how to live more sustainably?
Breath and slow down. For some there could be a chance to try working less and wanting less, being more content for what you already have. And be truly kind to you. That stuff escalates to your environment too.
Main picture by Paju Purovuo