Noora Hammar's Story

Story #6

To Noora Hammar, Rovaniemi was the place where she gained her first real exposure to diversity. She grew up in Salo- a busy small city located in the Southwest Finland region.  

Her interest in Public Law and Human Rights motivated her to apply for an internship at the European Parliament in Brussels. “This internship rendered me with the skills to develop an intercultural competence first hand” she said of her first working experience abroad. She completed her bachelor’s degree in public law from University of Lapland while interning in Brussels.  When her internship ended, Noora continued as a Parliamentary Assistant for the Vice-Chair of the Development Committee in the European Parliament, where she focused on sexual rights, women and children’s rights, and migration. In 2015, she left her position in the European parliament to focus on her master’s thesis for University of Lapland, where she graduated in 2016.

“It was also in Brussels where I met my partner from the UK”, Noora recounts. She returned to Finland, where she started to work at the Local Register Office of Uusimaa with the international team. At this time, the intercultural couple maintained a long-distance relationship.

​Moving forward on her professional career, Noora became a Parliamentary Assistant to the Finnish Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services where besides spending significant time working on human rights issues relating to the field of social issues and health care, she acquired a vital trait nowadays for increasing cultural immersion, and therefore intercultural communication skills: open-mindedness. 

​It was during this period when her partner moved to Finland. After settling in and starting to work, the couple found out about Familia’s activities around 2019. Noora’s partner started taking the Finnish language courses- one of the signature activities of the organization.  She soon realized that Familia aligned with her values and passion. 

​I was inspired by the efforts in supporting individuals on their everyday lives, and how as an organization Familia seeks to make an impact on intercultural families as a whole

“It was natural for me to join Familia as a Chairperson in 2022 where I can display my passion about the benefits of intercultural diversity into the organization” Noora added. 

​Besides leading the board and making sure the strategy and organizational structure line up with the employees, she has a wider vision of how she would like to see Familia grow in the future. "We have a good direction now, and we need to keep working on our vision- building bridges. She added.

"We need to work towards successful integration that enables active participation into society but on top of that we need to work towards inclusivity as a whole, so that people can have equal access to opportunities. " Noora concluded. 

 We need to work towards successful integration that enables active participation into society but on top of that we need to work towards inclusivity as a whole, so that people can have equal access to opportunities

​Noora previously served as a Vice Chair for Familia in 2021, and currently holds the position of Communication Lead at OP Financial Group. 

Editor and producer: yvette Ahonen