Who are you?
My name is Kati Fortino. I’m 32 years old, and I live near Helsinki with my Italian husband and our 1.5-year-old boy. My career in customs started in 2013 at SA-TU Logistics, now Customs Support Finland. I’ve had different positions in the customs industry. I began in exports and transitioned to digital transformations and communications. I grew as the company grew, and now I’m the Marketing Coordinator for Finland and Sweden.
What does a Marketing Coordinator do?
I’m responsible for internal and external communications for Customs Support in Finland and Sweden, increasing brand awareness for Customs Support in our region/ I also work in generating leads to expand our client base in the Nordics. I have always been fascinated by digitalisation and automation, so I’m happy that I also support the Group Marketing Department with implementing and rolling out marketing automation.
What does a typical day look like?
My days vary a lot. That goes with the territory. I have a lot of creative tasks, like creating visuals for presentations, brochures, and social media. I also organise webinars and events to inform our existing clients better and get to know potential clients. I get to tell stories about the intricate world of customs. I plan communications on the country level. As you can imagine, a significant part of my day is handling e-mails.
What do you like most about your job?
It is the variation I just spoke about that I like so much. My job is the perfect combination of creativity and data analytics. I like the design part, and I also get to analyse the effect of what I created. I also get to be a part of a great international team. There are many different personalities. We learn a lot from each other and have a lot of fun simultaneously.
What is your biggest challenge?
I sometimes feel like an acrobat on a monocycle juggling twenty balls. It is great to keep them all in the air, but it can sometimes be challenging to switch from creative tasks to analytical tasks, to change management tasks in projects. Never a dull day.
What do you do when you are not in the office?
I love to eat and cook. With an Italian husband, you can imagine that the Italian kitchen is my favourite. I love doing new things, which I do regularly. It makes for many different hobbies and courses, from making ice sculptures to macrame knotting, making my own natural cosmetics and digital marketing courses. I’m a lifelong learner.
I also love the outdoors and hiking with my family. There’s something about the forests in Finland. They give me peace and inspiration at the same time. We’re currently not enjoying the Finnish forests as much as I’d like, but that will be much easier when our son gets older.
I’m also very much a dog person, although I currently don’t have a dog. Who needs a puppy when you have a 1,5-year old that wants to play all the time?
Why Customs Support?
What I like most about Customs Support is that it keeps growing. The growth brings new opportunities and chances to grow as a professional and as an organisation and develop new services. The same goes for our clients, that benefit from these new services and better coverage across Europe.
I never dreamed of working in customs when I was a child, but now I’m hooked. You learn something new every day. Customs services are the enabler of safe and efficient global trade. We are a vital element of the global economy. Without customs, international trade grinds to a halt. It’s exciting to be a part of that.
