Meet Saara, our snowboardin’, Facebookin’ Ovi Community Manager

It’s time for our 5th installment in our weekly series of Ovi People Interview posts! Last week we had the pleasure to talk to Saara Bergström, who works here at Nokia House in Espoo, Finland as a Community Manager. We also got some additional questions for Saara from two very active Ovi Blog readers: so [...]

It’s time for our 5th installment in our weekly series of Ovi People Interview posts! Last week we had the pleasure to talk to Saara Bergström, who works here at Nokia House in Espoo, Finland as a Community Manager. We also got some additional questions for Saara from two very active Ovi Blog readers: so a big THANK YOU is in order for our dear friends Jade and Avnee  Guys, please keep scrolling to see your questions answered!

Do you want to have your question answered by the good folks here at Ovi? I will reveal our next week’s interviewee tomorrow (Tuesday) and after that you can send your question(s) to him (or her!)

How long have you been working at Nokia, Saara?

I started in 2005 as a trainee at Nokia’s communications and PR department, left to finish my studies and came to Nokia to work at the digital marketing department back in 2007. So, about four years altogether.

What do you do here at Nokia?

I’m the community manager for Ovi services, a rather new role within our marketing function. I’m behind Ovi by Nokia on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/OvibyNokia) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/ovibynokia), for example. I’m trying to make sure we are listening to what people are talking about us and with us. I also see myself as the people’s voice within Nokia in a way as well, since I’m always trying to bring the feedback and insight from outside to our internal teams in Marketing, Care as well as R&D. I’ve been at it for just over a month now, so we’ll see how things evolve from here. I’m very happy to hear any feedback and ideas on how we could connect with people better also from you guys reading the blog, so please let me know! You can reach me through @ovibynokia on Twitter or Ovi by Nokia on Facebook or then just commenting this blog post.

What other projects have you been working on at Nokia?

Various online marketing projects, such as heading the S60 Blogs back in the day and also http://blogs.nokia.com among others.

What did you do before you joined Nokia?

I love the web, so all I’ve ever done has been related to the web in a way or another, building websites, online strategies and such, both for work and free-time.

Where did you go to school?

I have two university degrees, a BBA and another degree majoring in communications with minors like sociology and marketing. However, I think what counts more than degrees is the passion for what you do, doesn’t it?

What do you like about working at Nokia?

The international atmosphere definitely! The possibility to work with many different kinds of people from all over the world on interesting projects. The variety of things you can work here is amazing. So many opportunities come up every day, it gets hard to choose between all the great projects because it’d be great to do them all!

What makes you passionate about Ovi?

In very much believe in the Nokia “Connecting People” promise and that is what I do here at Ovi team too: I try to help connect people with Nokia and Ovi and the teams behind our services. Connecting people in my opinion is also at the core of Ovi and I’m very happy to see that we are on that path towards “one Ovi” that connects all our services and people using them.

What word is the first word that comes to your mind when you think about Ovi?

I’m a very visual person, so rather than thinking in words, I think in images. The first thing coming to my mind about Ovi is a happy mixture of our brand colors, the bright greens, pinks, yellows and blues.

Avnee would like to know what’s in your opinion the most innovative (& best!) app in the Store?

Very tuff question, since there are several. Probably Sports Tracker. It’s the best app to track my runs, biking and snowboarding trips and it’s probably what I use most in addition to apps like AccuWeather and Maps. I’ve also developed an addiction to puzzle games like Tower Bloxx and Cube and good old solitaire is great while waiting for the bus at the bus stop.

Speaking of apps, Jade would like to know what your favorite devices for social networking are and what apps would you suggest for social networking through Nokia devices?

I use  for example Facebook and Twitter on my Nokia device. They are probably the ones I spend most time in. Gravity is my app of choice.

What was your very first Nokia device?

The Nokia 3310. Still have it.

What devices do you use right now and what do you mainly do with them?

The devices I use most at the moment are N97 Mini and X6 and also E72. I’m always connected and always running from one place to another so I read my RSS, do my social networking, blogging and emails on my devices. Calls & texting are probably on the fourth place

What were you looking for the last time you used Maps?

I was trying to find my way to my friend’s office in Helsinki and succeeded too.

What are your top three favorite blogs/websites?

Another difficult question, because there are so many great ones out there. I find things through Twitter, using Gravity or Dabr on my phone, and subscribe to about 200 feeds through my RSS reader. I read a lot about new media, web technologies and mobile development, social web, design, architecture, sociology and social psychology among others. I am in constant trouble with my reader, because I find interesting blogs and sites all the time, which means the number of unread items in my reader is not in control at all. Spring cleaning for my RSS’s is something I really need to do soon.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I’m a passionate snowboarder. We get great snow here in Finland so on most weekends in the winter time I either go out to one of the local hills near Helsinki or further up north for the bigger slopes. I also try to do at least one trip abroad to snowboard every winter – the past two winters I’ve been to Japan and plan to go back again next year. I love to travel too and used to take long holidays for backpacking when I was studying. Nowadays the trips are shorter, but equally great In the summertime I bike to work almost every day unless the weather is really horrible, run, skateboard (I’m not really good at it, but practicing) and frisbee golf. Like most Finns, I also like to spend time at our summer house.

What’s your motto?

Well I’ve never really thought of a motto before, but I think India Arie put it well once: “There are no mistakes, just chances we’ve taken. Lay down your regrets cause all we have is now.” To me this means you should not worry about yesterday or tomorrow but live in the moment. Forget about what other people may or may not think about you, but do like your heart tells you to do.

Is there anything you’d like to tell our readers here at the Ovi Blog?

Yes! First of all, it’s very nice to be part of this community! You are welcome to join us on Facebook and Twitter as well

Source : http://blog.ovi.com/2010/05/10/meet-saara-our-snow...