Marija Zelenkauskė

Marija Zelenkauskė‘s spatial story

My path towards journalism and communication has started at school – Vilkija gymnasium – in a very small and beautiful town in the middle of my home country Lithuania. I was a very active and curious pupil interested in many subjects and activities happening at school as well as in my country and the world. As a member of the students’ board and a part of organisational teams of various events, I used to write short articles for internal use of the school as well as local newspapers. I then clearly understood the importance and power of the information spread and the way it was told. And this lit a spark in my heart for further interest in journalism and communication.

Journalism studies at Klaipeda and Vilnius universities in Lithuania and Erasmus exchange programme in Volda University College in Norway led me to various internships and jobs. I started my carrier as a journalist in a small local newspaper and radio, continuing in regional media and finally in Lithuanian National Radio and Television. Step by step, I learned new things and skills in journalism and started to gradually climb career ladders, which I was very happy about.

But suddenly, in the last year of MA, I was invited to apply for an international traineeship. And then, I remembered my old dream to live in a very beautiful city Stockholm even for a short period of my life. Then I understood that this was my chance. So, I completed my MA, left my job as a reporter at the National Television of Lithuania, and moved to Stockholm for a 6-months traineeship at the Embassy of Lithuania to Sweden. This was the very beginning of my Swedish life.

After this traineeship, I decided to stay in Stockholm and continue challenging myself with the new stage of my carrier – restarting it in communication instead of continuing in journalism. With quite a minimum experience in communication that I got while volunteering in various non-profit organisations, I felt like I needed to learn a lot. Three years have passed so quickly by learning Swedish, working as a communicator at small companies and events, when I suddenly found an open job position at Nordregio.

And here I am! A part of a great institution and a wonderful team! Here I gained an opportunity to develop my communications skills and learn about new tools, platforms, and international communication. Now I am working with communications of various projects, helping researchers to improve and develop their communications ideas, coordinating the development of Nordregio’s website and the implementation of the European Accessibility Directive in Nordregio’s communications channels, and creating content for websites as well as storymaps, layouts, working on Newsletters and Social Media.

I am sure this experience will be very valuable when getting back to Lithuania and continuing my carrier either in communication or journalism.