Welcome to month two of the Creative Force Employee Spotlight!
After last month's chat with Nga Nguyen, in Vietnam, we traveled to Copenhagen to chat it up with our Sales Director for EMEA, Jacob Karlsson!
CF: Jacob, welcome to the chat.
Jacob: Thank you for having me!
Before we get into it, did I hear correctly that you've been doing ice baths?
I’ve just signed up for a winter bathing members club in Copenhagen - they have a sauna though to defrost in after the plunge. I started a couple of weeks ago with my wife and a couple of friends and I love it. At our winter vacation last week me and the boys did sauna and snow dips instead. Amazing to see how quick they where getting back into the sauna.
As a fellow ice bather, I love that. Have you always been into the cold sports?
I was born and raised in a small village in the north of Sweden, just below the Polar Circle. The winters up there can be quite harsh and is usually between October to May. The sun doesn't come up for two months but on the other hand it's up 24h a day for two months in the summer. The last opening day of my favorite ski resort is actually in June and that weekend you can ski in the midnight sun. Snow-sledding, skiing in all forms and shapes, and ice hockey are fundamental skills I mostly have zero use for now in Denmark.
Not sure I could do two months of no sun. But speaking of being in Denmark, what drew you to this Danish company and how long have you been with us?
I've been here for a year and a half and Creative Force has by far the best solution for high volume studios and I've been impressed since the very start of the journey of our product and the development team and what they have been able to create.
A year and a half, what's your favorite part about working on the team?
I love that we have such an engaged team and even though we sometimes have heated discussions we are all trying to make our customers as successful as possible. I love meeting new people and hanging out with my co-workers - my favourite moments are the events we are participating in and all the good energy surrounding them.
Love that. Before we get back to the external stuff, what are you most excited about with Creative Force right now?
Okay, we've already hit the ice plunge, but what else do you do outside of work?
Three things that I combine as much as possible: Family-Sports-Outdoors, doing a 3K open water swim in the ocean with my oldest son or family CrossFit in the summer house or going to the skating rink with my twin boys, that is pure joy for me! I've been doing sports all my life. Everything from traditional sports like ice-hockey, football and skiing to mountain marathons and adventure racing. Last 7 years I have dedicated myself to CrossFit and swimming. As I'm getting older I'm not competing anymore but workout for fun and for good health.
I have to be honest here, you don't seem like someone who could ever "stop competing."
These days, all my proudest moments comes from actions and events with the kids, small stuff that will take them in the right direction - and from beating a bunch of 20-year olds on the Sunday WOD in my CrossFit box!
There it is! I knew you are always focused on the big win. What else? Do you have any side hustles or anything you want to share with the world?
Not yet - but come back in 6 months and I hope to get you some nice drone videos. We have just invested in a decent one and will sign up for a certificate soon (you'll need that in Denmark to operate larger drones in public areas).
That's so cool! Thank you so much for telling us a little bit about you and what you do here!
My pleasure! Thanks for having me!
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Keep an eye out for the March Employee Spotlight where we chat it up with another great CF employee from Hanoi!
