HUMANS board consist of 9 individuals from a variety of backgrounds. We share the passion and drive for human sciences and applied research.
Sakari Mesimäki
Chairperson of Humans
Sakari is a social anthropologist who believes that most problems can be solved with imagination and intellectual clarity – by first breaking things down and apart, and then putting them back together again in a way that reveals something new. He has worked in corporate communications in Tokyo, conducted strategic ethnography for Finnish private equity investors, and researched startup professionals, creatives, and hip hop dancers.
Chris Ryles
Co-Chair of Humans
Chris is fascinated by the ways in which we try to make meaning in an increasingly chaotic world. Applying thinking from semiotics, design strategy, and speculative fiction, he has helped clients from beauty to consumer tech find novel solutions to their strategic problems. When not at his desk, Chris can often be found jogging through trails around Helsinki or demonstrating an impressive lack of rhythm at Lindy Hop classes.
Laura Calderón Westö
Business Anthropologist & strategist
Laura is a business anthropologist with an academic background in social and cultural anthropology and a professional background in strategy consulting. She is endlessly curious about the human mind and behaviour in all its contexts. For her there is nothing more intriguing than balancing between the business problem and the human problem: to decipher and strive to understand the implicit meanings in people’s thoughts, attitudes and behaviour, learning what truly drives their actions and turning these insights into impactful business decisions and actions
Mirkka Helkkula
Mirkka is social anthropologist, designer, and former journalist with passion for driving sustainable and regenerative transitions. Mirkka holds two master’s degrees in social anthropology and service innovation and design.
She currently works as an executive producer and corporate communications consultant at Terraviestintä. Her professional experience includes working for private and public sector, as well as the Red Cross. Driven by curiosity of understanding cultures and people, Mirkka is enthusiastic about combining storytelling, qualitative research, and design to advocate for planetary and human wellbeing.
Henriika Lindroos
Henriika is a seasoned strategic service designer and a sociologist. As an empathetic changemaker, she’s worked in all three major sectors: public, private, and NGO. She loves complicated problems which she has been privileged to tackle in different settings from the fast-moving world of genetic technology to scaling innovation culture in the poorest countries in the world. For her to be Humans is to foster the curiosity and sense of belonging.
Viima Relander
Viima is a user researcher and strategist with a mixed educational background in business, sociology, and design. She has worked across marketing, CX, service design and UX research, and currently works as Lead Product Researcher at M-Files. Throughout her career, one constant has been a deep interest in understanding people, and finding the balance between user needs and business objectives. She is driven by curiosity, gets excited about innovation, and believes that in a world increasingly shaped by AI, the human side matters more than ever.
Sohvi Silius
Sohvi is a social psychologist (M.Soc.Sc.) and user researcher, currently leading User Insights at Yousician, a music technology company. Non-profits and creating communities are close to her heart, which is why she joined the HUMANS board. Sohvi is a former youth circus performer, teacher, and administrator, and continues to draw on that background for many professional skills. She enjoys reading business books, running, rope skipping, dancing – and tends to pick up a new hobby every autumn.
Tijana Stolic
Tijana is a researcher in media and communications, and criminology and criminal justice, and she has also worked in sustainability reporting and operations. She is interested in how media affect people’s attitudes and policies, and she uses an intersectional approach to address complex socio-cultural problems. Aside from this, her interests include writing, ceramics, pilates, and on occasion sitting quietly in nature doing absolutely nothing.
Eero Tuorila
Eero has an academic background in political science and East Asian studies, and has worked in corporate communications, PR consulting, and public affairs. Currently, he works as a Project Manager at Nordic West Office, a Helsinki-based think tank and consultancy focused on geopolitics. Eero writes about Japan and the Asia-Pacific for The Ulkopolitist, a Finnish foreign policy focused online media.
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