She doesn't miss the long working days to meet deadlines, but Squid editor-in-chief Lotta Dinkelspiel would like to write a bit more. However, right now she has other priorities: "I want to ensure that millennials are well informed." Lotta is no ordinary tech girl: she started her career in business. She was in the banking world, but that wasn't her thing. “I really wanted to get into journalism. So in the year 2000 I started with a start-up newspaper, Vision, so I wrote about the booming start-up industry in Sweden." <h2>Traditional versus modern</h2> Lotta worked there for a few years, but then decided to switch to traditional media. “I came to work for the largest business weekly magazine called Affärsvärlden, where I climbed higher and higher and eventually became Managing Editor. I stopped there in the spring, because I noticed that sometimes it was difficult making decisions in traditional media. It is simply more traditional. In other words: the world is turning and fast decisions are essential. So I was looking for something more modern. " Lotta wasn't looking diligently, but she kept her ears and eyes open. “I met a man by accident who worked at Squid and he said: I'm going to introduce you to someone. That's how it all started. Squid is a start-up and that appealed to me, but also the fact that I would now view the media industry from the other side. I wanted to investigate further what the challenges of media companies were, but also how we could help them. How good or bad is Google for them, for example? They were all questions that just kept haunting me. " Lotta was immediately enthusiastic about Squid, which is an app in which people can choose which subjects they want to read about. “Not just the product, but the fact that we aim to inspire young people to read quality journalism. I myself had started a children's newspaper six years ago. Now Squid's target group is a bit different: that is more young people between 18 and 35, but the goal is the same. The newspaper I made was never a big hit, mainly because I only did it in my evening hours." <h2>One Europe</h2> Yet there was something that Lotta found extremely important in her new job. “The world is getting smaller in terms of communication. This is really a European company. We work beyond our own national borders. I think the fact that we are one Europe and we work together is wonderful. And that start-up feeling of course, that atmosphere, that suits me. ” However, it is not an easy goal to make sure young people who normally watch YouTube and social media, start reading longer quality journalistic pieces. “I think our strength is that we have many categories. This way you can really read what you find important. The great thing is that you will eventually read more news than you initially subscribe to. I have three children myself and my son loves football. He follows his favorite teams via Squid, but he also sees other big news, sometimes he shows me: Mom, have you seen this? My daughters are much more involved with fashion, but they can also find that news in Squid, so there is something for everyone.” <h2>Editor-in-Chief at Squid </h2> “It is my job as editor-in-chief to talk a lot with the regional managers about the platform per country. Squid is available in languages whose letters I can't even read, so it's good to have a representative in every country. Most of our regional managers fall within our target group. They are inspiring, intelligent and grew up in the digital age. Without him I could not possibly do my job. We are at the main office with eight people. Ultimately, precisely because the team is small, you actually do 100 things at the same time. On the one hand you are busy with marketing, but new possibilities also have to be developed. There are so many ideas to implement, but you have to have the time." A very social job, in which Lotta is no longer behind her keyboard for real journalistic work. “I miss the writing though. I hope to write more in the future, but on the other hand I do not miss the deadlines and the nocturnal writing sessions. But yes, if a job is not hard, then it is not satisfactory either. ”In any case, Lotta still has enough work to do in the coming period. “My biggest challenge is to ensure that the feeds are good in all countries, with good writers in every country we can. I really want the important, good stories to be put in the spotlight. Cooperation between countries and well-informed millennials, that is the future." Photo source: Niki Litzén
