50 years old | Marika Makaroff’s career path looks promising, but she herself describes it as a “series of failures”

Marika Makaroff sitting in Kaapelitehta’s cafe. On the back of the jacket is written the motto of Gutsy Animations, the company he founded: See Good. Be Gutsy. See the good around you, be brave.

“At the time of Radio City, I wasn’t a brat, but a nerd. When I came to the house to work like that Reuben Stiller said that the forest girl of Itä-Vantaa is eaten alive here,” says Makaroff.

Not eaten. DJs In Nja and Norpa cursed, but that was the end of the vices. Radio City turned out to be so kind that Makaroff’s first husband was also found on morning radio Jarkko Luoma.

The year 1996 at Radio City was important for the young woman’s future.

“I learned from City to be braver, more creative and more independent. These qualities have helped me in my work as a leader.”

Right now creative director Makaroff is designing Moomin Valley– four seasons of animation.

“I’m also making a drama series, which has already been sold to eleven different countries before the first day of filming. The series tells a love story that looks perfect on the outside, but is destroyed due to intimate partner violence.”

Makaroff’s the path from a local radio reporter to the media boss of an international company seems to be smooth, but he himself describes it as a “series of failures”.

“Got Hoyer the bankruptcy made me think about my own faults. Moomins have caused the most heart palpitations. I went into Europe’s most expensive animation production too optimistically. In the worst phase, I couldn’t sleep, and in addition to my own money, my mother’s and friends’ money was tied up in the company.”

Makaroff says it will be several years before Moomin Valley-TV series will become a profitable business for Gutsy. The concept of success has taken on a new meaning in failure.

“Success is rising from the bottom, when your own home has been mortgaged for the second time and the employees’ salaries have been paid quickly.”

“And above all, success is realizing that there are always other people behind it: those who are on your side and wish you well.”

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“Trying is probably a genetic defect that runs in our family.”

Gutsy Animations’ business arrangements made it possible for Makaroff to return from CEO to creative director, which is exactly why he was a guitar-playing, barefoot hippie girl who applied to work at Radio City.

“It suits me best that I start a business, develop concepts and lead teams, and someone else takes care of paperwork and money.”

Working with legendary animation directors is a pleasure for Makaroff.

“Furthermore, I have been able to work, among other things Snowman a top draftsman of Richard Fawdry mixed Kate Winslet with which Mare of Eastown is one of my favorite series.”

The boss of the company, which employs 46 people, is guided by the principles of kindness and fairness.

“The crucial thing is that your way of working is trusted.”

About Makaroff surprisingly little is known. More often than domestic media, he has been written about in international media: Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

“When I started at Radio Ykköne, I didn’t allow myself to be photographed, my Kuva was allowed to draw instead.”

Makaroff was attracted to television Juha Tynkkynen. Makaroff objected until Tynkkynen told how much Crazy bunch – program would give you money. For a twenty-year-old, a big reward meant a lot.

“I was considered cheeky when I ran Katja Ståhlin and Kata Kärkkäinen hide in the back and sent an invoice for three thousand marks if Seiska-lehti did the story without interviewing me.”

Makaroff says that he eventually got tired of television.

“I made babies to get out of there! I spent weeks with the boys and on Sundays I worked The island and the script Fairy tale and true and Stiller.”

Fremantle While working in the media, Makaroff experienced burnout.

“Suddenly I was working in a gigantic organization where things were guided by hard values ​​that were foreign to me. Little by little I started to get tired of them.”

Makaroff had drifted too far from the little girl driven by her imagination. A girl who grew up in Vantaa played Indian in the forest. The crafts, on the other hand, did not go well.

“When I went to show my mother about one of the terrible rags, she reminded me of what my grandmother used to say: ‘Smell shit, it hasn’t even been pressed yet’.”

The phrase has grown into a room table for the women of the family, which is believed: “When you iron enough, the most wrinkled parts will straighten out, even in life.”

My father’s legacy is the attitude that everyone should be treated equally.

“In practice, it meant that a depressed bus driver from HKL, who was found by my father and needed the support of the family community, could cook in the corner of our kitchen for a week. Sometimes we had bands that the manager had abandoned somewhere else.”

In life, you have to help the weaker and talk to people with fancy titles in the same way as to men on the street, was the motto of the serial entrepreneur father who died at the age of 53.

Makaroff’s my mother’s side of the family has always worked as small entrepreneurs.

“Mother always swore that you wouldn’t become an entrepreneur. Now I have told my own boys that you can test everything else except entrepreneurship. And of course the eldest son has already had time to start a company! Trying is probably a genetic defect that runs in our family.”

The youngest son and English colleagues call Makaroff Tikru, Winnie the Pooh -to the hyper-energetic tiger character of the story books.

“Tikru is sometimes a bit overoptimistic. It’s enough for me if I can live happy and healthy surrounded by family and good people and do international work that touches hearts and brings hope.”