Minna Kristiina Pietarinen

Thank You For me,  gratitude is the most beautiful word and the deepest meaning. 

Without it, I would have verylittle at all.

Entrepreneurship has always been a way of life. 

I grew up in a family of 17 children whereentrepreneurship shaped daily life and gave me my strongest foundation. Later, after fifteen years as afulltime mother of five, I returned to my own path. In 2010, I established my first business, MinnaKristiina, ofering art therapy for the City of Porvoo.

My own life challenges led me to art therapy and revealed to me the transformative power of art andpeer support. 

Encouraged by the response to my paintings and poems on social media, I began toshare my inner world more openly. I realized how deeply shame and fear influence our humanexperience in times of struggle, and I developed a low-threshold exhibition concept: painting people’strue stories and giving them words through poetry.

The first of these exhibitions, in 2018, addressed the theme of domestic violence. In 2022, I was born a Girl, explored women’s rights through the stories of women worldwide, inspired by my painting of Malala for the Nordic Business Forum. 

The exhibition, created together with Peppi Stunkel, opened at the Museum of World Cultures in Mexico City in March 2023, in collaboration with the Ministry for Foreign Afairs and several embassies. 

It was a great success and has since been shown 17 times in 11countries, continuing its international tour under the patronage of Suzanne Innes-Stubb, spouse ofthe President of Finland. 

In recognition of this work, I was invited to the Presidential IndependenceDay Reception in 2024.

In Finland, my exhibition Meidän lapset, addresses school bullying through real life stories paintedand written into poetry.

Thank You is my third peer-supportive exhibition, this time highlighting entrepreneurship. 

My aim isto bring hope, strength, courage, opportunities, and inspiration, to give words to dificult emotionssuch as shame and fear, and to show how they can be transformed into resilience. 

I am deeply gratefulto everyone who has shared their stories and courage.

I always tell my own story openly through my art. 

I discovered freedom when I dared to speakhonestly about all I had lived through. 

Shame has been my greatest barrier to seeing my true self andmy potential. 

The theme of my gown at the Presidential Reception was: The Light After Shame Takes the Shape of Love.

Thank you Hans-Peter Siefen and Nordic Business Forum❤️