Commu! Karolina Kauhanen on ”One the Come Up”

For the twenty-fourth episode of One the Come Up, I had the fortune of speaking with Mrs Karoliina Kauhanen – twice. Unfortunately (or, maybe, fortunately) the first go around had issues with the recording (and prompted new measures on my part), so I had the pleasure of a second interview. Mrs Kauhanen joined me all the way from Finland, where her career began at Humak University of Applied Sciences and the University of the Arts Helsinki, where she obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Arts and Events Management. During this time, she worked at the Classic Floorball Academy [Floorball is Finland’s most popular sport], where she was introduced to international affairs and marketing. Here, she oversaw an historic floorball match between Singapore and Finland. Commu was founded in 2019 on the eve of the pandemic – perfect timing for good deeds. The objective of the app is to connect those who need help and those who want to help. It was the first time Mrs Kauhanen and her co-founders started a company, and there were definitely some learning curves. Through fundraising and a rock band (Yes, they have an official rock band!!), they spread across the world – and rapidly. The first time I spoke with Mrs Kauhanen, two months ago, they were in three countries. Between then and now, they have proliferated to Portugal, the UK, and Asia, and even have some users here in America. I don’t propose to tell the future, but if I can apply one takeaway from my conversation with Mrs Kauhanen, is that we are all human. And we will always be humans.