My story and path into Åpenhet are clearly somewhat different from those who started the company and built it around a vision based on their extensive knowledge of and experience with policy-making.

 

I've always been interested in communication. I believe that many of the world's problems stem from misconceptions and misunderstandings, which means I see great potential in solving these issues through better communication. I realise this might sound naive, considering the complexity of some problems, but it explains the core drive behind my interest in communication. On an interpersonal level, I've always loved spotting misunderstandings and helping people get their messages across.

 

Patterns in human behaviour, social groups, cultures, organizations, and structures have always fascinated me. While studying sociology at the University in Oslo, I also worked part-time at Oslo Prison to earn some extra money. Working in the prison gave me insight into an organization that was very closed off from the outside world, and I found it very rewarding to be part of a system where behaviour and norms deviated from what was considered normal.

 

I remember one day at work when the parliament was set to present a new white paper on the implementation of punishments. They had chosen the yard in Oslo Prison as the venue for the event and held a TV broadcast from there. This white paper was about how to improve the rehabilitation work for inmates, and by holding the presentation at Oslo Prison, they wanted to send a signal that they were closely in touch with the realities on the ground. For security reasons, this meant that no inmates could go out into the yard that day, and I remember sitting inside the prison with several inmates, watching the TV broadcast. It was a paradoxical experience. There stood parliament representatives just outside, saying nice words about how Norwegian prisons should be organised, while inside, there were angry inmates, dissatisfied because they didn't get their one hour of fresh air that day. For me, this was a turning point or a little detour in my career. I thought that if I just continued in the direction I had started, which was sociology at the university, I could eventually be the one drafting these white papers. That might have suited me, but at that moment, I understood the importance of knowing and understanding the realities. I didn't want to be someone who made guidelines without knowing what she was talking about. I wanted to be where life happens. So, I decided to train as a prison officer and stayed in the correctional service for quite a few years.

 

Working with people became my thing. Later, I started working for the Norwegian Church Abroad. For 8 years, I was general manager for them in Dubai and Brussels. This position involved classic responsibilities like HR, accounting, and administration, in addition to overseeing the organisation's crisis and emergency cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Norwegian companies abroad. As it was in my job as a prison officer, this role also allowed me to work with communication between people with very different backgrounds and preferences.

 

When I was about to return to Norway with my family two years ago, I received a call from Kleng, the founder of Åpenhet. He needed help with HR and non-tech tasks, as the company was stretched thin delivering services to the OECD and participating in numerous EEA projects. For me, this was an opportunity to continue working with people and communication in an international context.

 

Throughout my career, I've focused on facilitating positive change through relational skills. My time working in high-risk prisons, where the goal was behavioral change and crime prevention, highlighted the gap between system design and daily operations—a gap that face-to-face communication alone couldn't bridge. At Åpenhet, I joined a team dedicated to using technology to bridge these gaps, maintaining my commitment to effective communication and positive change.

 

When I now look back on my time at university and the decision to take a detour via the correctional services instead of stepping directly into public administration, I realize that I now indirectly get to work with policy development at a strategic level. Åpenhet has clients who work on important issues that I care about and that I know can positively impact the world. We get to help them with what I am most passionate about which is communication. We partner in many international projects that rely on face-to-face interactions to facilitate knowledge dissemination and strengthen ties between countries.

 

At the end of the day, technology exists to serve people, and at Åpenhet, we focus on understanding users, storytelling, and a down-to-earth approach. I think this human-centric communication style sets us apart. Making the world a better place requires decision-makers to deeply understand the information that informs their decisions. Åpenhet bridges the gap between raw data and meaningful insights, ensuring accurate representation of real circumstances.

 

With one foot in the academic world and the other in the vocational, my dream is for Åpenhet to succeed not only in making data actionable for decision-makers but also accessible and understandable for the public. In a world inundated with unreliable information sources, it is crucial to ensure that fact-based knowledge is disseminated in a way that allows everyone to participate in debates on common ground.