Our Women in Digital Switzerland member for May is Pauliina Rasi, independent communications expert, copywriter and founder of Pauliina Rasi Communications, an agency supporting mission-driven businesses and organisations to grow and make an impact through quality content. Pauliina is Finnish but has lived in Switzerland for over a decade. Pauliina is passionate about helping small businesses with mighty missions to turn their vision of a better world into reality, which is very much aligned with the WDS Mission!
“The WDS community hooked me with its authentic approach to networking and an open willingness to share stories, experiences and lessons learned. It is important that as women and professionals in this field, we come together to support one another and help each other grow.”
Tell us a little about you
I’m a Finn on my way to becoming Swiss, and the curious double “I” in my name comes from my Finnish roots. When I first moved to the Geneva region 11 years ago, some people encouraged me to drop one of the “I”’s to blend in better, but for me, the double vowel is an essential part of my story and a tribute to where I come from. I am a passionate writer and I’m lucky and honoured to work in digital communications, helping businesses, brands and nonprofits get their message across and win more clients, funding and support through clear messaging and quality content.
What was your first interaction with WDS and how was it for you? I’m a very recent member of WDS, as I only joined earlier this year! I actually learned about WDS quite recently, as I joined the end-of-the-year community drinks, from an invitation from a friend who’s part of the network. I only needed to join one more event before making a decision to become a member, as it was obvious to me I wanted to learn more and support Women in Digital Switzerland’s work to promote the women working in the field. What was the reason you joined WDS? I was immediately hooked by the warm-hearted networking, and open sharing of experiences and stories, as well as the atmosphere of learning from each other and supporting one another. Furthermore, I do find it important that professional women stick together and make themselves and their work visible in a field that has historically been predominantly male. It’s easy to feel lonely as a woman in such an environment, as a professional or an entrepreneur, but together we can make big changes happen.
Tell us something about you that might surprise us!
Before becoming a communications expert and copywriter, I used to work as a journalist. I’ve always been interested in writing, and I started writing short stories as a kid (and I even submitted them to competitions every now and then, without winning anything substantial). So working as a journalist was the logical next step, and writing has been the red thread of my career ever since.
Of which professional achievement are you especially proud of? Launching my own communications and content creation agency in 2018. Having worked previously as a journalist and in a communications agency, I wish to find a more flexible way to use my passion and grow as a professional after the birth of my daughter, which prompted me to try my own wings. I’m of course proud of the growth of my own brand, but working a lot with small businesses and start-ups, I’m even more proud of their growth, success and results that our collaboration has helped them achieve.
Are there many women in your industry? Why is that or why not?
In digital communications and copywriting there are quite a few women. Communications, writing and PR have been quite female-driven industries, and probably entering the digital field from that perspective has been easier for women than in some other fields. Of course, when it comes to writing, it’s always important o have people from different backgrounds, as it leads to diverse content creation as well.
Which aspect of your industry might interest other women to start work in this field? What is great about writing and communications is that you always learn so much on the job. It’s all about learning new things and sharing them with others in interesting and engaging ways! When you add the constantly developing technologies and platforms on top of that, the boring or predictable days in this job are rare.
Which future trend is the most interesting in your opinion? Right now, AI-generated and AI-driven content are big topics in the copywriting field. Will tools like Bard and ChatGPT replace writers entirely? How to use those tools ethically, and without putting the authenticity of our brand voices in danger? While I do think we need to keep the discussion going about the ethics, legislation and the role these technologies take in content creation, it’s good to keep in mind that they can also speed up our work and eliminate recurring parts of the process, which leaves more time for creative thinking and writing.
Want to connect with women like Pauliina? Check out our forum
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