Free coffee and S-shaped (‘S’ stands for Sauli’s) homemade cookies are served by enthusiastic volunteers that can answer to the public’s questions about presidential candidate Sauli Niinistö. I met with volunteer Tuija Saukkonen at Café Niinistö in FORUM’s Kukontori who offered all her spare time supporting Niinistö’s campaign.

“I have decided not to follow all what is being written in the press and on the Internet but of course I follow major newspapers and hear lots of discussions here at Café Niinistö since people are eagerly discussing about the latest polls that show Sauli in the lead”, comments Tuija.

“The President is the value leader of Finland. Niinistö has the power to unite people. He can be the President of all Finland from Helsinki to Lapland!”, says Tuija when I ask her about how she believes Niinistö makes a difference and is suitable for the highest position of Finland’s democracy.

Sauli Niinistö from the National Coalition Party and Finland’s former Minister of Finance is running for office along with Pekka Haavisto from the Green League and Finland’s former Minister of the Environment.

Sauli Niinistö won the first round with 37.0% of the public’s vote and is facing off against Pekka Haavisto, who got 18.8% of the votes, in the second round, which is held tomorrow on February 5.

Text: Chryssa Skodra

Photos: Kim Ekman (Vision51)

SixDegrees has an average print run of 50,000 copies, which can be found in 500 distribution points in the Greater Helsinki region, Tampere, Turku, Oulu and Jyväskylä. So, my face is on all of those copies! I have to bring one copy to my parents!

Heather Sutherland, the writer of the article, has done an excellent job writing about blogging as a phenomenon that is growing into mainstream media.

Here is a small part of her story and my interview:

As blogging becomes more mainstream, is it also becoming something you could make a living from?

Blogging has left behind its late ‘90s stereotype of being something that geeky teenage boys do in their bedrooms, and is now a firm part of modern day culture enjoyed by people from all walks of life. Business bloggers, fashion bloggers, health and fitness bloggers, parent bloggers, expat bloggers, political bloggers, technology bloggers; millions of people around the globe use blogs to share ideas and information.

“I’ve received tons of email from the four corners of the earth from Finnish expats, international visitors and foreigners living in Finland that could relate to my stories on my original Finnish blog about life in Rovaniemi,” explains professional blogger, journalist and Spin FM radio host Chryssa Skodra.

Skodra, who currently blogs for FORUM Shopping Centre in Helsinki, and for Fujitsu as a brand ambassador, first started blogging when she was at university in Athens, receiving considerable media attention for her efforts. After sharing her thoughts about life in Rovaniemi when she lived there, she now blogs about technology and fashion.

“It is a dream come true!” Skodra exclaims, when asked what it’s like to be paid to blog. As FORUM’s first ever English-language blogger, Skodra writes about fashion, lifestyle trends and events that take place at the shopping mall. “I interview shop managers, personnel and visitors, try the services and products that FORUM offers and report back to the world.”

“It is hard work though,” she continues. “I am not writing one or two sentences and uploading bad quality photos snapped on a phone. I have a high quality standard, therefore it is time and energy consuming to come up with an interesting concept for my next blog post, to contact and arrange interviews, borrow clothes and products for photo shoots and work on the aesthetics with my photographer, Kim Ekman.”

In keeping with her passion for blogging, Skodra has also been chosen to be one of Fujitsu’s brand ambassadors. “In Autumn 2010, 53 people from 8 countries were selected as Insiders (bloggers) and brand ambassadors for Fujitsu. We were given a specific model of Fujitsu Lifebook laptop and we had to test and review it for our LIFEBOOK4Life blog. They even flew me to the CeBIT 2011 in Hannover, Germany for the world’s largest IT trade fair to interview IT experts.”

To read the full story, click this link: The new face of blogging

Style It! took place in FORUM Shopping Centre last week on October 14 from 14:00-16:15 at the Restaurant World. During the ‘Style It!’ event 8 contestants showed their styling skills on stage by styling models with clothes from Cubus, accessories from Glitter, shoes from Vagabond and make-up from Yves Rocher!

Professional fashion people and make-up artists judged the selection of outfits and make-up choices of the contestants and shared their professional tips about the trends of autumn/winter 2011 live on FORUM’s stage at 0 floor. Yves Rocher’s star make-up artist Mariela Sarkima, who created the Official ELLE Style Awards make-up looks was also on ‘Style It!’ stage and offered make-up tips to the contestants.

The first ever Style It! event was organized by a team of students from HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Sciences under my supervision. I forget to mention that apart from FORUM’s blogger, I’m a teacher at HAAGA-HELIA Porvoo Campus and Haaga Campus! Here are my star students: (from left to right) Violeta, Vânia, Dominika, Marios (team leader), Liina, Tiina!

‘Style It!’ was hosted by MTV3 and Spin FM hostess Jutta Hämäläinen and Mister Gay Finland 2011 Jussi Laitinen. Here they are backstage preparing for the event:

The event closed  ‘My First Band’ who played songs from their latest album, while dozens of FORUM’s visitors were dancing to the beat overlooking what’s happening in the heart of FORUM!

The winner was chosen by public vote at the Style It! event facebook page where people click ‘Like’ on their favourite outfits! Event can be found here! All participants received goodie bags from the event partners.

The first-ever winner was showered by special prizes and giftcards from Yves Rocher, Glitter, Cubus and Vagabond.

Text & Photos: Chryssa Skodra

Yves Rocher was the main make-up partner and all the models of the fashion show were made-up using Yves Rocher products.

For a chance to WIN! fabulous Yves Rocher make-up sets from the official looks shown below answer to this question:

♦ In which floor is Yves Rocher store located in FORUM?

a) 0. floor

b) 1. floor

c) 2. floor

Send your answers at me Chryssa at chryssa@spinfm.fi with your personal details (name, surname, tel. no, date of birth, valid email address).

Mariela Sarkima, make-up artist, blogger and author of the Make Up Bible, created The Official ELLE Style Awards Make-up Looks! Here there are:

The whole process was filmed and later on will be posted on Elle Magazine’s website. Here are some insider’s photos!

Mariela was trying Yves Rocher’s Nail Lacquer on the lady modelling and I the shades for autumn 2011 are just amazing! Today, I was also wearing my favourit Yves Rocher 102 Aubergine nail polish! High colour, high shine!

There are still some hours left, you can visit Yves Rocher in Forum today Friday, 19th Augustyou can do your make-up shopping with 20% discount!

I had the privilege to interview Mo live on air and ask about his great success and accomplishments at such a young age (Mo is only 26)!

This genious entrepreneur has as “the Linus Torvalds of the Muslim world”. However, I would say he is just Mo El-Fatatry, a man who made a name for himself!

Mo comes from Egypt, son of two journalists but he grew up in Dubai. He didn’t like life in Dubai and 7 years ago he moved to Finland.

Mo El-Fatatry has been awarded by the President of the Republic of Finland with the 2009 Internationalization Award.

Spin FM, Mannerheimintie 20 A (behind the Infodesk), 00100, Helsinki

Text: Chryssa Skodra

Photos: Kim Ekman (Vision51)

Make Up Storen Cover All Mix on Ellin luottomeikki kuvauksiin ja pitkiin edustuspäiviin. Tätä on muuten muutkin artistit kehuneet paljon!

Muuten kesä meneekin Poni -pyörän selässä kesäsäästä nauttien!

Tämän Elli osti Monkista ale-hintaan!

Ellin suosima hamppuvoi täytyykin käydä poistamassa Body Shopista. Auttaa kuulemma kaikkeen! Olisikohan samanlainen ihmerasva kuin Elisabeth Ardenin 8 hour cream!!?

Body Shopin piparminttu jalkasuihke taas piristää ja raikastaa kesken pitkän työpäivän. Sopii hyvin kesään!

Keskiviikkona, kun odottelimme esityksen alkamista kävin pyörimässä muutamassa liikkeessä ja tsekkaamassa tarjontaa. Seuraan työn takia (uusia) trendejä ja välillä myös haen kuvausvaatteita artisteille joko pr-toimistoista tai ihan suoraan liikkeistä. Nyt tosin pr-toimistoissa on jo syksyn vaatteet joten kovin kesäisiä vaatteita ei toissa viikolla löytynyt kuvauksiin.

Alla olevat tuotteet bongasin keskiviikkona Stadiumista ja Monkista. Itselle muuten ostan usein urheilu- ja vaapa-ajanvaatteita miesten puolelta vaatteita sillä ne on yleensä paremmin istuvia ja tarpeeksi pitkiä. Esim. verkkarit ja tuulitakit toimii paremmin miesten koossa.

Värikkäät tuulitakit on mun juttu!

Nämä sopisi hyvin joihinkin kuvauksiin!

Nämä trikoot lähti Monkista heti matkaan!

Olethan tutustunut jo Forumin Facebook-sivuihin? Sieltä voi bongata mielenkiintoisia tarjouksia ja kevään trendejä. Itse huomasin, että Onlysta saa tänään ja huomenna -20% mekoista. Täytyy käydä tutustumassa tarjontaan!
Tämän lisäksi itse Forum tarjoaa asiakkailleen ilmaiseksi Haloo Helsingin Maailman toisella puolen -biisin!! Kyseinen biisi on muuten viidettä viikkoa putkeen Suomen toiseksi soitetuin radiokappale ja se kuullaan tänään livenä klo 17.00 Forumin kauppakeskuksessa. Käy osoitteessa https://www.facebook.com/KauppakeskusForum ja lataa Maailman toisella puolen -biisi itsellesi tai yllätä kaverisi!

Kuvaaja: Marek Sabogal