Minja Koskela | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Parliament of Finland | |
| Assumed office 5 April 2023 | |
| Constituency | Helsinki |
| Leader of the Left Alliance | |
| Assumed office 19 October 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Li Andersson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Minja Koskela 1987 (age 37–38) Heinävesi,North Karelia,Finland |
| Political party | Left Alliance |
| Other political affiliations | Feminist Party |
| Children | 1 |
| Residence(s) | Herttoniemi,Helsinki,Uusimaa,Finland |
| Alma mater | Sibelius Academy (MusDoc) University of Tampere (MSSc) |
| Profession | Musician,author,politician |
| Website | minjakoskela |
Minja Koskela (born 1987) is a Finnish musician,author,politician,member of the Parliament of Finland,the national legislature,and chair of the Left Alliance. She has represented Helsinki since April 2023 as member of the Left Alliance. [1] [2]
Koskela was born in 1987. [1] Her father was a policeman and her mother a dental hygienist. [3] She has three younger sisters. [3] Aged three,she joined the Päijät-Häme conservatory's play school in Lahti. [3] In the second year of high school she moved to Helsinki to study at Sibelius High School. [3] After high school she founded the Mitäs tytöt collective. [3] Koskela studied music at the Sibelius Academy and gender studies at the University of Tampere. [3] She has master's degree in social science and a doctorate in music. [1] [4]
Koskela was a music teacher for five years before taking a leave of absence to write her dissertation,Democracy Through Pop? Thinking with Intersectionality in Popular Music Education in Finnish Schools (2022). [4] [5] Koskela started writing her social feminist blog Bluestocking in 2015 and is the author of Ennen kaikkea feministi (2019) and Äidiksi tuleminen (2021). [3] [5] [6]
Koskela was asked by several parties to contest parliamentary elections but declined in order to finish her book. [6] [5] She was the secretary to the Feminist Party on the City Council of Helsinki. [3] She was a political expert for the Left Alliance before becoming executive director of the Association of Finnish Music Education Schools in 2021. [6] [7] She was elected to the City Council of Helsinki at the 2021 Finnish municipal elections. [4] [6] [8]
Koskela married film director Oskari Sipola in December 2019. [3] [9] She gave birth to a daughter,Else,in 2020 after earlier suffering from a miscarriage. [3] [6] The family live in the Herttoniemi suburb of Helsinki. [3] She is a member of the Team Play band. [3] [10] Koskela and Sipola jointly filed for divorce in July 2024. [11]
| Election | Constituency | Party | Votes | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 municipal [12] | Helsinki | Left Alliance | 5,612 | Elected | |
| 2023 parliamentary [13] | Helsinki | Left Alliance | 10,112 | Elected | |