Nadja Ekblom’s “närhetsliv”, where you are close to everything important to you, is “life from afar”. A conscious choice where a job with a pulse and new technology is balanced with leisure time near peace and nature. She wants to stay here and build a long-term life.
Nadja Ekblom takes off her helmet and high-visibility vest and checks out through the security gates of the large construction project underway at Boden Industrial Park. Here, Stegra (formerly H2 Green Steel) will build Europe’s first new-build steel mill in 50 years and one of the world’s largest hydrogen plants.
Week by week, more and more is emerging in the area where a large number of employees with different professions arrive every month. Nadja’s title and role is digital workplace IT operations specialist. In short, her job is to get the digital infrastructure flowing, for all categories of employees. In addition to the ongoing construction, the site also includes a growing office area.
“There are things happening all the time and I run around a lot on site. I like to do that. The last job I had celebrated 100 years, which means that most things were in place. Now we can bring in the best, drive change and build new”, says Nadja.
“I don’t like to sit still for a whole day, so I enjoy the controlled chaos at work.”
She has studied biology, epidemiology and business administration, worked with geographic information systems and IT, sales and marketing, project management and change management, with technology and data as a common thread. She describes herself as ambitious, with a need for both social life and alone time, speed and peace. That is precisely the life she has created here in Boden.
Made a home
As her car rolls home after a busy day at Boden Industrial Park, she leaves the vibrant international construction site both physically and mentally. A half-hour drive along the Lule River, lined with fields, villages and trees in all the colors of autumn, allows her to sort and reflect on the day. The last stretch home is along a winding road towards the alpine recreation resort Storklinten. More trees, forest and autumn colors pass by before she turns off the car outside her new home. Here, on the aptly named Urberget, it is quiet and peaceful.
“Sometimes I stay in the car and just stare at the forest for ten minutes. Then I’ve landed”, Nadja smiles.
Inside the house, with the forest and the winter’s future ski tracks just behind the house, and the kitchen window facing the slalom slopes, she is welcomed by all her large green plants that have come with her from Stockholm. The cottage exudes a subdued, cozy calm. Here she has peace to just be.
“When I get home, I really need this”, says Nadja.
A home is exactly what it has become, even if she is only renting a furnished cottage indefinitely.
“I found it myself through a private ad on Facebook and got in touch with a super nice landlord”.
“It may not feel like home right away, but where you have a job, friends and a life, that’s home. And I have that here now.”
Nadja moved here last summer when the nights were at their brightest and the sun was up all night. She took every opportunity she could to explore the area, on foot and by car.
“I spend a lot of time out in the woods, hiking, driving along back roads and finding nice new places, spending the night out, camping, barbecuing, looking at the stars… I love life here and try to make everyone I can who starts working with us realize how good it is here and that life in the north is a good option. I also want to show those who haven’t moved here that there are many opportunities for a good life in the area.”
Exciting jobs with a good life
During Nadja’s first month and a half at Stegra, her position was based in Stockholm. But it was to Boden that she wanted and were supposed to go.
“I’ve lived in big cities like Paris, Vancouver and Marseille and 15 years in Stockholm. I felt that I was done with that.”
What attracted her was the combination of an exciting and challenging job in a future-oriented industry with a strong focus on sustainability, and the opportunity to change her way of life.
She describes a determined pioneering spirit in the Stegra organization, a fighting spirit and a strong belief in breaking new ground with sustainability and innovation in focus. On site in Boden, she was met by a welcoming family feeling where those who have been in the company longer are natural hosts.
“Many of us are new here and can discover things together. We have a hiking group, for example.”
In addition to hiking with friends and seeking out new places on her own, Nadja has also had several consecutive weekends of visits to her cabin from family and friends.
“We’ve been sitting out here by the barbecue for hours watching the northern lights.”
So far, she is pretty much alone in the area, with the exception of the occasional stray neighbor.
“But they’ve probably hardly seen me because on weekends I’m out in the forest almost all day”, laughs Nadja.
She is not afraid of the dark, but rather hopes to see a moose, bear, fox or reindeer.
A short trip away
Nadja grew up in the countryside of Finnish Österbotten. She notes that she can drive to her family there in a few hours, and fly to siblings and friends in Stockholm in even less time if she wants to feel the pulse of the city on a weekend.
The big city is still there, but this is where I have found my way back to myself. I want to find my own house, have chickens, a dog, goats, maybe a horse. This is not a temporary adventure. I want to make a home here.
