A Helping Hand

I grew in a tiny town in Telemark called Lunde. Since my family ran the local mom & pop we-sell-everything-but-groceries store, it ended up being that most people knew me, even if I didn’t always know them. With my family being this central point in town, I always felt like I needed to behave, whether working there or otherwise. And so this small store in this small town was basically my whole life, up until the age of nineteen. It wasn’t until later on, when I became a working professional, that I realized growing up in the small-business world set me up to have a very business-oriented yet community-driven mindset.

I knew that I didn’t want to run my own business, but I also knew what it would take to run a successful one.

I ended up getting a bachelor’s degree in media management and a master’s degree in marketing. However, I can say that I was pretty torn between media and music. Ever since I was a kid, I played the clarinet in the local marching band. At the time, it was a big part of my life; the community gave me awesome friends and I gained the ability to work well with different kinds of people. As an adult I’ve played with youngsters from the age of 10 up until retired folks past 70 years old! It is remarkable to see what can be created when we work together towards a common goal. Age and walks of life suddenly become less important. 

I’ve always been a bit of an odd kid. So when it came time to look at study programs abroad, I wanted to go somewhere a off the trodden path. The best program I found was at a private business school in Spain which completely changed how I viewed the world. As someone who grew up middle-class, being immersed in so much wealth was eye-opening, expanding my definition of the word ‘diversity. The program also focused on case studies and not theory-learning, like we tend to do in Norway. So not only was I challenged by the learning style but by the diverse group of people around me,  two things that set me up for success here at Snowball.

I have so many stories in my social circle that push me to embrace life as it comes. Life is full of surprises - there’s no need to try and figure it out.

After graduating, my first job was at an “every man for themselves” start-up. Their business model, financial plan, and management style were challenging for me to relate to. So eventually I moved on to a new job with a great community of employees and the opportunity to really grow as a marketing professional. However, love came and brought me across the country to Snowball. Here, I have been given the possibility to value people as they deserve. This is why I think the New Normal Group is such a good fit for me. For the first time in my life I’m encourage to put the people first. Having that encouragement from the management really motivates me. I want the people I oversee to feel like they matter and have great work-related experiences, whether with onboarding, team communication, work evaluations, or the small pick-me-ups such as my world-famous, homemade chocolate fudge brownies.