Jenni leads Tori, the most popular and sustainable marketplace in Finland. Her ambition is to grow circular consumption by making second-hand buying as easy, attractive and safe as buying new. What has led Jenni to this position in a long term and what are her learnings on the way from mid-90s IT companies to today’s modern marketplace and media company Schibsted?
From school bench to leading a team
Jenni jumped to the work-life “straight from the school bench”, as she started her career as a Developer while still finishing her studies at Helsinki University of Technology at that time. Her career development after the first position was straightforward. Quite quickly she became a team leader trusted by her colleagues. Might sound like a dream come true for a young woman in early 20’s IT field? But not for Jenni.
Even though Jenni was enjoying the work and even more importantly the colleagues around her, she started to question if this is really the direction she enjoys the most at this phase of her career. When thinking afterwards, this self-reflection made Jenni to do probably the scariest move in her career ever as she decided to leave the leading position and apply back for a specialist level position. After several recruitment interviews questioning her decision to jump back to the specialist level while being “too qualified for those open positions”, Jenni decided that she has quit the previous job and jump in empty-handed to be able to convince the people to understand that she is really motivated to make the shift back to the specialist job.
The power of thoughts
When thinking about the early phases of Jenni’s career afterwards, she thinks that the jump to work-life and climb of “corporate ladders” was done a bit too quickly at that time. This bold experience of changing the direction the ship was sailing among other decisions Jenni has made in the later phases of her career is why Jenni encourages everyone to regularly self-investigate, if the occupational direction they’re going to is the one they really want. Or is there another, more enjoyable and rewarding, way to use the energy the work requires?
“You can turn any comment into good or bad – it’s your mind that is powerful to do that change and build the confidence needed.”
Another thing that has led her in her career is that she remembers to remind herself and others that usually it is ourselves that set us into the boxes and restrict ourselves from moving forward and making bold decisions. If someone next to you is not encouraging you it doesn’t mean that you should listen to them or restrict you from anything. You need to have trust in yourself and you can turn any comment coming around into good or bad – it’s your mind that is powerful to do that change and build the confidence needed.
One decision leading in Jenni’s career path
Even though Jenni’s career might not seem so straight forward the core idea of being in a meaningful job has been leading her job decisions all the way and this is also what led her to lead Tori – the most sustainable e-commerce brand in Finland (Sustainable Brand Index™). According to Jenni, she has not regretted a day during this over 6 years journey with Tori. The impactful business Tori does and what kind of solutions the technology allows is something that fascinates Jenni in the field.
If you want to know more about what is required behind the sustainable business Tori does, listen to Jenni’s 15-minute talk about the topic here.
Jenni Tuomisto
Director Generalist & Motors at Schibsted Suomi