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Personal info

Tytti Johanna Tuppurainen was born on the 18th of February, 1976 in Oulu Finland. Although born as a “Tuirinian”, but nowadays she lives with her family in the Oulu City Center.

Family

Her daughter, Salla, was born in 2000 and her son Olli was born in 2002.

Education:

• Masters of Philosophy, Oulu University, 2003. Main subjects were German Philology and minor in political science and sociology.
• Graduated from Merikoski High School in 1994 with honors.

Language skills: German, English, and Swedish
Tytti has traveled a lot in China, in the Mediterranean and Central Europe and live in Baijer, Germany during her student years. She enjoys in reading and recreation. Mainly, free time is spent at home with her children.

Work

R&D Coordinator for the Oulu UAS School of Music, Dance and Media and Project Coordinator for Dimeke -EU-project for Oulu University of Applied Sciences

Tytti has also had various tasks with House for Sustainable Development: Project Manager and Public Relations, and as Organizing Manager for Oulu Ekotuote Oy.

Politics and Organizations in short:

• Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Council of Oulu Region
• Oulu City Council Member (since 2000). Currently Vice-Chairman of the Council.
• Member of Finnish Council for Natural Resources and its representative for the European Environment Sustainability Development Advisory Council
• POEM (Northern Film and Media Foundation), vice-chair of the Board

Tytti Enjoys:

Newspapers, dark coffee and vanilla ice cream, challenging discussions (such as equal employment rights for international people living in Oulu), Oulu City Orchestra, books, reading stories to her children, thinking, meeting friends in cafés, sleeping late when possible

Some central ideas:

Everyday life

Everyone is entitled to an uncomplicated and secure everyday life. Therefore, we must ensure good quality and adequately staffed basic services such as daycare, schooling, health care and services for the elderly.

Livelihood

High employment is the fountain of our well-being. We must ensure a sufficient level of social security and eliminate poverty.

Future

Know-how is a key to the future, so therefore we must not compromise the standards of higher education and research. Development must be sustainable: each individual as well as our environment must be well looked after. Our culture can blossom only in an unprejudiced atmosphere.

My values in decision-making:

Tolerance – not “either or” but “both and”

Our way of thinking should be comprehensive rather than black and white, fundamental thinking, which in fact makes me flinch a little. I personally feel, for instance, that no person is either good nor bad, but some are weaker than others. Humanism to me represents the acceptance of these multifaceted complexities.

Sustainable development

Sustainable development means much more to me than just meaningless froth that one often comes across in regional politics. I use it to describe a certain kind of ideology where change is in constant movement between extremities of entirety. Change should never be static, but a process in which we all have an important and active role. Politics is about making value choices in regards to which extremity one wants to strive for.

To me sustainable development is about everyday choices.

Courage

In my dreams, I see a world where everyone is able to fulfil oneself in a meaningful way. Everyone acts to the best interest of not only them selves, but also towards the society in a way that doesn’t harm our environment. Everyone should have an equal right to a good life. Good things for everyone – a dream easily sneered at.

Freedom, equality and solidarity are very important values to me. Freedom means freedom to fulfil oneself. It doesn’t mean selfishness. Equality means equal opportunities, not equalizing. Solidarity means shared responsibility, responsibility of oneself and caring about others.

Looking to the future

I believe social democracy is an ideology of progression. Yet some claim it to be conservative, because it defends our society and services. However, defending a society that is founded on freedom, equality and solidarity is not stagnation. True conservatism objects to those social reformations, which have already been carried through, and progressive politics aim to implement more effectively.

I joined the social democrat party because SDP is not one thought movement. Perceiving society as a whole is important to me. One of SDP’s core values is to take responsibility of the development of the whole society. I would also like to emphasise the importance of work and employment. Everyone should have access to work as well as good life.