Change Finnish America while Building Your Resume: Join the Young Leaders Board.
Written By:
Nina Dahlblom
Anna Laine has an encouraging message to new YLB board members : “Show up with your interests, bring ideas and be ready to innovate.”
Sep 09, 2026
Image: Anna Laine
“The best summer camp of my life.”
When Anna Laine, Communications and Brand Specialist at Boeing, applied to the Young Leaders Board (YLB), she was barely 23, but she knew what she wanted: to stay connected to Finnish culture, strengthen her ties to the community and connect that heritage to her professional life and – hone her leadership skills.
“YLB looks great on your resume, and you’ll get connections for life—both professional and personal. I’m sure we’ll be at each other’s weddings one day!”
That is Laine’s message to young Finnish Americans considering the next Young Leaders Board cohort.
Laine, 25, is a current YLB member and describes the experience as “the best summer camp of my life.”
But there is more to YLB than a line on a resume and fun.
For Laine, it has been a place to test her leadership skills, take on real responsibility, build a professional network and discover more of Finnish America.
And she says the best part is that young people are trusted to make things happen.
“Young Leaders Board is what you put into it,” she says. “I was in grad school when I started, so I had more time. Now I’m working full-time, so my time is more limited.”
Laine joined YLB relatively young and still fairly new to the business world. Two years later, she says she has gained a network and opportunities she could not have imagined.
Her advice to the next cohort is simple:
“Show up with your interests, bring ideas and be ready to innovate.”
And don’t be intimidated.
“They’re excited to have you.”
Image: Ruut DeMeo, Performer of the Year 2026. Anna Laine served on the committee that selected the award recipient.
Make your mark
Finlandia Foundation Young Leaders Board (YLB) is still a relatively young organization, Laine says, and that means there is room for its members to shape what comes next.
When asked what kind of mark she has made, she doesn’t hesitate.
“YLB is still relatively young, and it can be developed even further. Get ready to make your mark.”
Every YLB member serves on a committee. Laine joined the Performer of the Year Committee, which selected Finnish-born singer, pianist and multidisciplinary artist Ruut DeMeo as the 2026 Performer of the Year.
She has also had the opportunity to participate in virtual meetings of the Finlandia Foundation National board.
For a young professional, that is a rare opportunity to see how decisions are actually made in the organization.
“It has been amazing to see how much our opinions are always valued and heard in decision-making.”
That trust has also meant being given opportunities to do things that initially felt intimidating.
Laine loves creating events. But when she was asked to organize and moderate an AI and Innovation panel at the Young Leader Forum at the Finnish Embassy in Washington, D.C., she was first terrified.
But she did it anyway.
“I was so amazed by how much trust and support we get despite our limited experience as young people,” she says. “It really shows what the Finnish trusting environment means. I am so grateful for the opportunity.”
Image: Anna Laine says she has learned at least 100 people in 50 countries pronounce ‘sauna’ in the right way. She is a passionate ambassador of Sauna, here at Willamette Sauna Festival.
If there is a gap, you can make it happen
Laine soon realized that being part of YLB also meant understanding Finnish America beyond her own community.
“If I wanted to learn what was going on in Finnish America, I needed to travel. And I needed to figure out how to get those costs covered.”
Instead of simply asking for a budget, Laine developed a formal procedure for submitting travel and other budget requests. She soon realized her idea was bigger than her own needs.
“It helped tremendously because anyone on the board could file a clear proposal if and when they needed to justify a budget for something valuable for FFN. When there is a gap or a need, you can do it. You can make it happen—and everyone can benefit from it.”
Laine used the process herself to justify travel to the Willamette Sauna Festival in Oregon, where Finlandia Foundation National is the patron and initiator of National Sauna Week celebrating annually the Finnish American Heritage in the USA.
“Sauna, after all, remains one of the most powerful connections between Finnish culture and Finnish America.”
FinnFest in Duluth, MN, has been another highlight Laine is excited about.
Growing up Finnish American had always felt natural to Laine. But visiting Hancock, Michigan, gave her a new perspective.
“I thought, gosh, this is what it must feel like to be an Italian American or an Irish American.”
Seeing the Finnish names, the history and the community in one place was, she says, “mind-blowing.”
“Every young Finnish American should see it.”
Image: Anna Laine at her graduation from Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Where Finnish America meets the working world
For Laine, the value of the Finnish American community does not end with cultural events.
It can also open professional doors.
One of her most memorable career experiences began with a Finnish company and a childhood friendship.
Laine had applied for a position with Finnish Long Drink in the United States. She thought her Finnish heritage would give her an advantage. But she did not hear back from the company.
“I couldn’t believe they didn’t respond to my application. I thought I knew the Long Drink so well. How could they turn me down? I never heard a thing.”
Then Laine moved to Steamboat, CO, and reconnected with a friend she had known since her childhood from Suomi-koulu. Her friend asked if Laine would like to come and volunteer for Finnish Long Drink. Laine went and loved it.
“I knew everything about the drink—the story, the taste, the history. My Dad always loved Lonkero.”
While she was volunteering at an event, one of the Finnish Long Drink leaders approached her.
“Would you like to work for us?” That was how Laine became a Brand Ambassador.
She worked with the fast-growing company at ski resorts and sauna events and got eventually and internal transfer in the company when she moved to Arizona.
The experience gave her a close-up view of a company growing rapidly in the American market. She loved the entrepreneurial atmosphere.
There was one achievement that Laine is the proudest about. She brought Finnish Long Drink to the Thunderbird’s School Pub.
“I took the Long Drink there. I am very proud of that. It was my first ever business deal.”
Finding her voice
Communication is now at the center of Laine’s career. She is bubbling with energy, quick and outgoing, with storytelling as one of her strengths. But she says she was not always like that.
As a younger person, she was more shy, stoic and quiet. Experience gradually changed her.
One of those experiences came when she was a teenager living in Amsterdam and attending an international school.
The students were asked to give a presentation called “Who I am.”
Laine knew immediately what she wanted to talk about.
She wanted to tell everyone she was Finnish.
Then came the conversation with her mother.
“I was confused for a while when my mom told me I wasn’t Finnish. She said, ‘You weren’t born in Finland. Your father and I were.’”
Laine was devastated.
“I was from San Diego, CA. I was American. I was very disappointed. I felt I was as Finnish as a Finn can be—but apparently I wasn’t.”
She calls it her “first cultural identity crisis”.
Looking back, it was also the beginning of a much longer journey: figuring out who she was, where she belonged, and eventually, how to find her own voice between the cultures that had shaped her.
Finnish enough?
Her Finnish identity had always been strong.
Her parents were born in Finland, and throughout her childhood she and her sister attended Finnish school and Finlandia Foundation events wherever the family lived—from Denver to St. Louis to San Diego.
Her grandparents were also deeply connected to Finnish America. Her grandmother was known for her famous lohikeitto at Finnish American events at the House of Finland in San Diego. Her grandfather was a Finnish mathematician whose career brought him to America to work in aviation.
And then there were the summers in Finland. The family spent time at their summer cottage in Heinävesi, near Joensuu.
“We celebrated Christmas, had sauna, ate salmon and potatoes. I even went to international rippikoulu in Pieksämäki.”
Yet it was actually Finland that made her question whether she was Finnish enough.
During one of her stays, she suddenly noticed something she had never noticed in the United States.
Image: Anna Laine’s Mom with her parents. She also graduated from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Her Finnish sounded different.
“I was told I had an accent. I never realized it when I lived in the U.S. and spoke Finnish with my Finnish American friends. I suddenly felt different.”
The realization was uncomfortable—but also important.
It helped her understand that Finnish identity could be something more complicated than simply where you were born.
And over time, she became more comfortable with that complexity.
A Finnish American in the workplace
Her Finnish background has also shaped the way she sees work.
During an internship with the Helsinki-based company Blic, she experienced Finnish working culture firsthand.
Her first day could hardly have gone worse.
Her flight from the United States was late. Her luggage was lost. She had no business clothes.
“I was so lost and stressed out.”
But the reaction from her manager and colleagues surprised her.
“Everyone in the company was so understanding and kind.”
She remembers being welcomed by the CEO by name on her first day.
That experience contrasted sharply with an internship she had done in the mayor’s office in Phoenix.
“It took two weeks to meet the mayor herself.”
She noticed some other cultural differences in organizational dynamics as well.
“In Finland, the hierarchy was almost nonexistent.”
She remembers receiving free lunch coupons and eating lunch together with colleagues who would switch back and forth between languages to help her with her Finnish.
For Laine, these small moments made the Finnish workplace feel very welcoming and distinctly different from the American one.
Proudly Finnish
When Laine attended Thunderbird School of Global Management, she no longer questioned whether she was Finnish enough.
She embraced it.
At the school, graduates were given the opportunity to design their own window on campus.
Laine created hers around Finnish symbols: the Finnish flag, a sauna—and sisu.
It was a very public declaration of something that had once felt confusing.
Today, Finnish identity is something she carries with confidence.
And YLB has given her yet another way to experience it.
Not only by looking backward, but by building something new.
Image: Anna Laine with her family behind the window with Finnish symbols she designed at Thunderbird School of Global Management. Image by Terrance Balousek.
ANNA’S FINLAND
What Finnish thing would you bring to the United States?
“Finnish culture. The appreciation of nature. And the culture of trust.”
What is the most Finnish thing about you?
“My love for sauna. I have turned people into sauna lovers.”
“On personal level, I want to know people on a deeper level.”
What Finnish tradition or element has been passed down through your family?
Laine could probably answer sauna to every question.
But this time she chooses something else.
“Mökki is irreplaceable. Free time at the mökki in Heinävesi.”
What fascinates you about Finland today?
Laine is fascinated by the way Finland has become so popular and trendy around the world. Sauna is part of it.
So is happiness.
But perhaps most importantly, she says, it is the Finnish understanding of happiness as contentment—having access to nature, sauna and community.
“And having trust. It builds safety. That is what makes Finland fascinating.”
What Finnish food is funny from an American perspective?
“Salmon soup and rye bread. They think it is funny, but I love it.”
What is your favorite Finnish word?
“Telinevoimistelu.”
Image: Anna Laine’s favorite meal: salmon soup and rye bread.
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