Maija Haavisto - résumé

I am a published author, medical writer, freelance journalist, copywriter, SEO writer, translator, blogger, web content creator, photographer, artist, video editor and Twitter trainer living from Finland, currently living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. If you are interested in hiring me, send me an email or contact me on Twitter. My MSN and Skype IDs and samples of past work are available upon request.

Speaking and related

YleX 7/2010
Speaking about Twitter on a national Finnish radio station.

2nd European LDN conference 4/2010
Speaker at a medical conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

Talouselämä, Talentum 1/2010
Twitter training for employees of a Finnish business magazine.

Yleisradio 12/2009-1/2010
Twitter training for employees of the Finnish national broadcasting company.

Translation and copywriting

United BioSource Corporation 5/2010-present
Finnish translation/revision of medical documents/video subtitles.

Finn Lectura 4/2010-present
Finnish translation of a language textbook.

Lingo24 4/2010-present
Miscellaneous English to Finnish translations for a translation agency.

Reorex 4/2010
Finnish translation of a medical brochure (information insert for a medical device).

Advance Translations S.L. 4/2010
Revision of a Finnish translation of a medical brochure (information insert for a medical device).

Paitapuoti Pikkujuttu 5/2009
Translation of over 100 t-shirt texts from Finnish to English.

Native/Hogarth 4/2009
Medical copywriting and Finnish translation of medical reports for an advertising agency.

Huutotalo Ky 4/2009-12/2009
Search engine optimization (META keywords and description, directory submission etc), translation and proofreading for http://www.fycro.com and an upcoming, not yet released website.

Graphic World LLC 3/2009-5/2010
Internet research, website translation and writing web copy in Finnish.

Ihmisiä tiellä 3/2009-4/2009
English translation of a Finnish movie featuring some prominent Finnish actors like Tommi Korpela (Putoavia enkeleitä, Studio Julmahuvi).

BBi Denmark 3/2009
Finnish translation of a pharmaceutical brochure for an advertising agency.

Silicom Internet Ltd 11/2008-7/2009
Website translation for an IT company.

TextMagic Ltd 9/2008-4/2009
Translation of a text messenging software and website copy from English to Finnish, website testing.

Journalism and article writing

Agent Mediator B2H 5/2010-present
Health-related search engine optimized articles for an upcoming website.

Medomo Oy 12/2008-7/2009
Articles about medicine and other topics and SEO writing (in Finnish). The most important project has been http://www.nuuska.fi, which contains information about the health effects of snus (moist snuff), in collaboration with Esa-Pekka Pälvimäki, MD.

Vertigo/Qstock 9/2008-present
Music reviews, interviews and blogging for an online music magazine established in 2005 and the yearly print publication of the associated Qstock festival, including interviews of the legendary Belgian industrial group Front 242 and the trash metal band Anthrax (both with own photos).

Suite101, 7/2008-present
International online magazine. Over 100 articles about a variety of topics, such as medicine, food, beauty, photography and book reviews, often illustrated with my own photographs. Many of my articles have received the "Editor's Choice" award.

Innova, Nuoren Asunto and Sisusta, Innova Magazines 2/2006-5/2006, 2/2009-9/2009
Articles about e.g. decorative fragrances, online shopping and notable interior designs in Finland for decoration/interior design magazines.

Enter, Yhtyneet Kuvalehdet, 8/2000-5/2006
Regular writing job for a Finnish computer magazine. A wide variety of articles about computers and technology, such as hardware and software reviews, interviews and feature articles, but emphasis on tutorials. Two own regular columns: "Windows and PC tips" and "Expert answers" (answering reader's questions), as well as regular blogging for the magazine's blog. Some of my photos were published both in my own articles and in other writers' pieces. Was voted the best freelancer contributing to the magazine by colleagues in 6/2005.

Other

Network Solutions LLC 3/2009
Sales of a collection of autumn-related stock photos.

Fortum (now Neste), 7/1998-8/1998
A summer job involving normal office duties but also e.g. website creation for an Intranet and work using Microsoft Access.

Creations

Näin käytät Twitteriä

The first book about Twitter in Finnish, published by the Finnish academic publisher Finn Lectura in 11/2009. I have also created its website.

Reviving the Broken Marionette: Treatments for CFS/ME and Fibromyalgia

A medical textbook about pharmaceutical treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis and fibromyalgia. 346 pages, 250 medications and over 1,000 references. Kathy Quan, RN BSN PHN, and author of "The Everything New Nurse Book" and "The Everything Guide to Careers in Health Care" said about it: "Haavisto has provided a comprehensive and well researched tool to help patients, physicians and other health care practitioners understand more about CFS/ME and how to treat it effectively. It is a must read for health care providers." A new Finnish version of the book titled "CFS:n ja fibromyalgian hoito" was published by Finn Lectura in 5/2010.

Fiikus (this website)

I started building a personal website in December 1996 and it saw the daylight in public form in March 1997. It has since been revamped several times, of course, and now contains a few hundred kilobytes of content (excluding images), inluding medical articles, ASCII art, photography and vegetarian recipes. Most of the content is in English, but my Finnish vegetarian recipe page is one of the most popular pages. There are about 250 unique visitors a day, most of them coming from Google.

Vegventures

A vegan food blog featuring dishes from different cuisines all over the world.

CFS-verkko

A large Finnish website about CFS/ME, containing over 500 kilobytes of text content (almost entirely by me) and an active forum. Receives over 300 unique visitors a day, which is noteworthy in a country of 5,000,000 people.

Professional memberships

Member of the Finnish association of non-fiction writers (Suomen tietokirjailijat ry).

Skills and expertise

Languages

Finnish: native
English: fluent
Swedish: intermediate
German: basics
Dutch: basics

Writing

I have written just about everything: features; ad copy; book, music and other product reviews; gift guides; how-tos; tutorials; blog posts (both paid and personal; Q&A columns; tips columns; novel manuscripts; poetry; essays; interviews and press releases.

My natural ambition and tendency to brainstorm ideas have served me me well in this profession. Other skills worth mentioning are strong research and creating copy in a format best suited for the target audience. I understand the distinction between printed media and web publications. I have a good understanding of SEO (search engine optimization) and I am well-aqcuainted with social media. I have plenty of experience writing product reviews.

I am able to perform high quality Finnish-English-Finnish translation, whether the text is technical or literary. Considering my background I work particularly effectively with subjects related to software and medicine.

I can be hired for ghostwriting, as well as editing, research, proofreading and critique. I know how to format books and eBooks and create proper indices.

Photography

I have been photographing since 1996, currently with a professional setup (including Canon 450D and 5D, several lenses, a flash unit, a tripod and other equipment). My experience is mostly in photographing people and events (from demonstrations to gigs and raves), but I also shoot e.g. nature and food. I have also studied video making and editing, though I currently have no equipment for it.

Computers and Internet

• Internet content creation since 1996 (includes HTML, SEO and many CMSs/PMSs, such as MediaWiki, Blogger, WordPress, Modera, Confluence, Basecamp, Mambo and several custom ones)
• Microsoft Office and OpenOffice
• image editing and retouching
• video editing
• vector art
• some "niche" skills like ASCII art (since 1997), seamless texture creation (since 2000)

Awards

My ASCII art has won prizes in numerous contests. It has also appeared in Miranda July's award-winning feature film "Me and You and Everyone We Know", in the book "Creative For a Second" (along with other artworks of mine), in two Finnish art exhibitions (in 2008 and 2009) and in several magazines in Finland, Canada and the United States.

I have won several prizes in writing contests, including ones organized by Yleisradio (the national broadcasting company of Finland), Helsingin Sanomat (the largest newspaper in Finland) and major Finnish publishers. My poetry has appeared in two anthologies, most recently "Kuusiraajainen purppuratähti" (Tammi, Finland, 2003), and several times in the Asahi Haikuist section of the Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun. I believe poetry and copywriting are, despite apparent differences, quite similar in nature. In both trades one has to carefully consider the emotional impact of every word.

Interests

I have excellent knowledge and understanding of most areas of medicine, specifically neurology, pharmacology, immunology, psychiatry, clinical nutrition, oncology and endocrinology. I read medical papers on a daily basis. I can write both technical, fully referenced articles or more populistic "health/wellness" content aimed at the laymen.

Vegetarian cooking and baking is another passion of mine. I have studied different cuisines, ingredients and diets and constructed many of my own recipes. Combined with my excellent knowledge about nutritional science gives me a strong background to write about topics related to food. I also have a keen interest in books, art and indoor gardening (potted plants).

I can write articles about most general subjects except for sports, business/economy and fashion. Even though I live in Finland I am well-rounded in the culture of United States, including popular culture, holidays, work life, education and other aspects.