I am the mother of two sons. As a student I participated at the Song and Dance Festival and also was active in gymnastics.
For the last six years I have been an assistant manager at an internationally recognized concern, establishing new business relationships of which many have proven to benefit in planning LEP-ESTO 2013. At my previous job I gained experience in organizing functions and evaluating business agreements which have also helped in planning the festivities. Moving into the San Francisco area I joined the Young Scandinavian club, the functions of which I help organize. I later discovered that the local Estonian Society was also active, joined their activities and have been part of the executive since 2009 and subsequently on the executive of the planning committee of LEP-ESTO 2013 since 2010, currently the vice-president.
Why were you willing to take on such a big responsibility to organize this festival?
For me there was no questioning about this. Even before Estonian Society of SF finally decided to accept the responsibilities of organizing LEP, I knew I wanted to be involved. The challenge grew bigger with the addition of ESTO organizing along with LEP alone, not to mention two little additions to my own family, but I am known to love challenges.
Do you have previous experience attending and/or organizing previous LEP And/or ESTO?
Though I have some previous event planning experience, I have no LEP or ESTO related previous experience.
What event specifically do you recommend, especially at this ESTO, for people to attend.
I personally plan to attend all events and know that all and every single one of them will be a high quality event with thousands of hours of preparation gone into them. Nevertheless, first day events, of course, are very dear to my heart.
The primarily purpose of the first day events is to introduce Estonia to SF Bay Area. All of us have colleagues and friends who can't wait to know more about us Estonians and Estonia – this tiny exotic country. Now they have the opportunity do so.
If someone has never been in SF before, what place would they have to visit?
Though this is not enough to experience San Francisco, one can't say they have been here until they have been on the Golden Gate Bridge and seen the views from Marin Headlands.
