Behind the lab
Meet the women behind The WeLaB
Spring 2020 is a time period no one will ever forget. The global pandemic changed our everyday lives in an unprecedented way.
It was a special time for Riina Laiho and Hanna Westerholm as well. The two close friends were both on maternity leaves and shared their feelings about where the world is going.
They were concerned to see many businesses struggling after losing customers and seeing teams split up in remote work locations. The ability to work together efficiently was needed now more than ever before.
Riina and Hanna are both experienced in HR and human behaviour in general. They knew that when you combine established methods with a people-oriented approach, great results can be achieved.
It was time to open The WeLaB: a place where teams, organisations, and individuals can generate workplace chemistry.
Riina and Hanna, both being mothers, have noticed that running a family is not that different from running a business. After all, happy families and functioning workplaces are built on the same foundation: a common goal and great chemistry.
Riina Laiho
Riina has graduated as a Bachelor of Psychology (First class Honours) from University of Malta. After this she has done an international career within the field of Human Resources, including positions as Head of HR in a rapidly-growing online company and HR Manager in an international stock company in Malta and Tallinn. She has successfully taken companies through big scale mergers and acquisitions.
Especially close to Riina’s heart are topics such as company culture, management of change as well as chemistry between individuals.
Due to raising a family, Riina moved back to Finland and while on maternity leave she has kept herself up-to-date and also studied personality and emotional intelligence to become a consultant on WorkPlace Big 5 and EQ-i.
Hanna Westerholm
Hanna is half German and half Finnish-Swedish and spent her childhood abroad. She has a M. Sc. in Economics from Svenska Handelshögskolan i Helsingfors as well as a Bachelor in Sociology from the University of Helsinki. After having worked within marketing in big global companies for the greater part of her career, Hanna decided she wanted to switch careers and become a professional coach.
Hanna is now an accredited ICF-certified coach and for the past years she’s coached teams and individuals regarding their personal and professional development. She also founded her own podcast production company that made podcasts big in Finland. She sold the company when going on maternity leave with her third child.
Just like Riina, Hanna has studied personality and emotional intelligence among other things and become consultant on the assessment tools WorkPlace Big5 and EQ-i.