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Panu Mäenpää is a native of Seinäjoki in South Ostrobothnia. He realised early on that he would have to move away from Seinäjoki. "I was bullied at school for six years", says Panu. After high school, he applied to study at university. Panu chose English as his major for the simple reason that it had been a straight A on his matriculation exam. History was another subject that interested him, and a career as a teacher was also on his agenda for the future.

Jyväskylä was a familiar city, as Panu's older sister studied there, and his aunt and uncle lived there. Panu had visited the city during the holidays and observed that the university campus, and its buildings looked just as a university should!

Those beautiful red brick buildings and pine trees!

Right on the day of his entrance exam, Panu made the decision to study in Jyväskylä. He sat on the red brick wall next to the university’s main building and ate a snack. A tourist bus pulled up, and the tourists who got out of the bus took pictures of the main building and its surroundings. “I felt a great sense of pride sitting on that wall. I decided that this is where I would come to study," Panu says with a laugh.

After arriving in Jyväskylä to study, Panu Mäenpää's world was completely changed. “These were the best years of my life”, Panu chuckles. “In Jyväskylä I got to be Panu Mäenpää, and not just the son of my parents, as I had been in Seinäjoki. I had always liked studying and now I was surrounded by others who liked studying too. It was stunning to learn new things.”

September 4th 1994 is an important date. It was the start of my university studies and everything in my life changed.

Since the age of 14, Panu Mäenpää had known that he belonged to a sexual minority. In the 1990s, the subject was taboo and could not be discussed – at least not in South Ostrobothnia. In Jyväskylä, Panu met other members of this minority for the first time and realised that sexual orientation was not looked down upon within the university community.

In Jyväskylä, I could talk about things openly and explore what kind of person I am. I was able to live in an atmosphere of respect.

Panu studied speech communication, gender studies and Hungarian and Slovak as his minor subjects. "My ambition to get a well-paid job and my love for Eurovision is reflected in my minor subjects", Panu laughs.

As an exchange student, Panu went to the University of Kent, where he studied drama and theatre. For several years, he also had his sights set on acting. However, the exchange period was a heavy one, with many extra-curricular projects and a rollercoaster of emotions. Although he did not pursue a career in acting, the love for performing arts and media studies took over and Panu became a teacher in that field.

Equality issues are important to Panu and he has worked in important positions in human rights organisations. He has been the Chair of the Board of Seta - LGBTIQ Rights in Finland during 2015-2016 and of Helsinki Pride from 2020 to 2022 and was elected Chair of the Board of The Finnish League for Human Rights in January 2023.

Because I was allowed to be myself at university, I grew up very brave. When I was in Seta and I was told every day that I wasn't equal and all sorts of other things, it didn't affect me anymore.

In his professional life, Panu has worked as a teacher and in children and youth organisations. Since 2015 he has been working as a communications consultant. He has experience in strategic planning and implementation of communications and societal campaigning. He has worked as Executive Producer at Tubecon, in the Ellun Kanat communications agency, as Team Leader and Senior Advisor at Miltton communications agency, as Chief Communications Officer at Talous ja nuoret TAT (nowadays JA Finland) and as Director of Media Relations and Company Culture at VR Group. He is currently back at Miltton as the Director of Public Affairs.

The years spent at university provided an excellent basis for education and made curiosity the norm. The Ģ��ֱ�� kept its promise and gave me an education I am proud of!  

Panu cites the ability to manage large datasets and to quickly find the key issues as the most important lessons learned from his university studies. Critical thinking has also been an important skill in his career. Developing effective reading and writing skills hasn’t hurt either. 

This text has been translated from Finnish using DeepL and human post-editing by Anne Saarikoski and Irfan Durmic