Devotion to writing and reading attracted Katja Kärki to the world of newspapers, although in the beginning the young woman had other plans. When studying Finnish language, Kärki was to become a teacher. However, temporary teacher posts during the studies made her change her mind.

– Teaching in middle school, at least as a covering teacher, was more like force management than teaching, Kärki recalls.

– But the advantage was that after all temporary posts, I had guts to do whatever. I walked right into newspaper Pohjalainen’s editing office and announced that I’m here to save your grammar. That’s how I got a summer job as a reporter.

Kärki worked in Pohjalainen for seven years until she met her husband and moved to Rovaniemi in Lapland. There she got a job in Alma Media’s newspaper Lapin Kansa, and a full-time work as a sub-editor in Pohjalainen turned into a temporary and later on into a permanent job as a news reporter in Lapin Kansa.

– Afterwards, it was the best decision to make. When getting closer to the age of thirty, there is a big risk to be trapped in one place, either physically or mentally. I turned over a new leaf in my life and it was great.

Currently Kärki producers Lapin Kansa’s pages called Hyöty (Utility), containing articles which help readers in the various situations of their daily lives. In last months she has acted as a managing editor.

In Lapland Katja Kärki is fascinated by people’s frankness and informality. It appears also in Lapin Kansa newpaper’s small editing office: from the very beginning Kärki felt warmly welcomed and if having enough eagerness, almost everything is possible to carry out.

At the moment big changes are churning in Lapin Kansa. It satisfies this editor, who is abominated by immobility. At the turn of the year 2010, Lapin Kansa will be shifted into tabloid-size along with other Alma Media’s Northern newspapers: Pohjolan Sanomat and Kainuun Sanomat.

– Yet I don’t know how my work will change during the renewal. But I hope that I will find a job, where I can write and organize as well as pull the strings.