Tell me a little bit about yourself and your passions?
I am Birgitta, Queen B to most, mother of 3 children 26, 20 and 10. In addition to that, due to my marriage to my husband (Actor/Stuntman/Strong man) Sven-Ole Thorsen, i’m a step-mama to 2 boys my own age. I am from Sweden, lived in Denmark many years, and a long time in UK. I am a workaholic and i’m passionate about everything I do. The music and film industry has my heart although as a chef, I am very passionate about food. Another thing that is big in my life is Humor. I am not afraid of making a fool of myself and I love Blonde sarcasm on my behalf.
So as someone who owns 3 companies, manages artists, produces films as well as cooks professionally, how do you find time to do each?
The same way that I find time to do anything I do within the 24 hours that I am given in a day. First of all I time manage, prioritize and accept that I don’t get to do all I plan or want to do. I plan on an hourly, daily and weekly basis. My main time is spent with my artist management and film production company and then I leave Catering for when I have full time for it. Also, I am very good at multitasking and having many balls in the air at one go because I am a whirlwind within a calm shell.
Can you discuss the circumstances that led to your career and some challenges you have overcome?
As someone who comes from the model industry, both as model and as model agency owner, I was in a lot of environments that put me in front of “potential clients” When I first started out I also did catering so I would get asked to find music for the events and so I did that for a long time as a service to my customers for free. I then began to notice that booking agencies and musician’s got paid because I got them gigs so all of a sudden I was in a position where I had so many direct contacts. I was essentially the middle person with a lot of artists and bookers. This led to one artist asking me to be his manager, and as I thought it would be a fun thing to do, I jumped at it and then more came and just like that I had to hire staff to keep going.
As far as challenges go, my main one has been to promote myself, the company and to get venues, booking agencies and artists to know I was there. The film industry came first. Due to my acting background, I was asked to get actors for a film essentially as casting director. This combined with my husband’s many years as an actor has led to one project after another and now we have 2 production companies.
The film industry is full of challenges and obstacles everyday – and it is wonderful. In regards to my title as Chef and my catering business, I do that because of my passion for food and because I grew up in a family that had a similar passion. My dad was in the restaurant industry too.
For someone looking to get into entrepreneurship what would you say to him or her?
Find out first and foremost what line of business to start with, what would drive their passion and where do they see them self, spending many, many working hours night and day. Research all they can about the idea, their potential competitors, the market and make a business plan. Get advice from Lawyers, accountants, start-up advisors and make sure to protect their property and to be happy all along the way. I could go on with lots of Advice, but 2 last things would be to get on Cyber Dust, it has become an valued place for help and advice and then last but not least… GO FOR IT – BE YOUR OWN SUCCESS – Enjoy the journey towards your goals. · How can entrepreneurship impact change in the world? Well first of if not all then most any moneymaking machines has a changing impact by either supporting 1 or more people financially. Many entrepreneurs are also inventors so they are placing their product on the market where they have anything from a changing impact on the single user/buyer to an all-round local to global change. Also Entrepreneurs as non-profit organizations are involved in one or several helping organizations either indirect or direct. ·
You’re someone who has traveled a lot. Can you tell me what you have learned from your travels?
I have learned that there are so many different cultures and different ways of living lives. The same goes with languages ( I speak 6 languages ) and food. I have also learned the culture of business, work, economy, leadership and organization.
Favorite country?
Have not one but many, Scandinavian countries, Spain, France, Italy, UK and US.
Country with the best food?
Denmark, France, Italy, Spain and Asia.
Country with the best music?
Sweden, Denmark, UK and US.
Country with the best movies?
Sweden, Denmark, UK, Italy and US.
Talk to me about what life and culture is like in Sweden
Well, I’m going to answer this based on where I grew up. I stayed in Sweden until I was 11 years old and then on to Denmark as teenager and an adult so i’ll say i’m more Scandinavian than Swedish. In the kingdoms of Scandinavia, We are a well educated, hardworking people, we’re organized with unions to have our backs and with many rules, laws and regulations. Also, we pay more taxes than most, between 45 and 69% income tax, but then all our social needs are taken care of, free healthcare, free roads, etc. We have childbirth and maternity leave fully paid for. Same goes for the dads.
We have high standards on free education, housing, life in general and how we look after our eldest and our countries. We are consistently ranked as the happiest people in the world, with close family ties and friendships and we have a 1000 year history and deep roots of cooking and music and literature. We are ruled by monarchy and led by democracy. Arts has a long history as well, to mention a few Henrik Ibsen, Niels Bohr, Soren Kirkegaard, Hans-Christian Andersen, Astrid Lindgren and Nobel.
Life in general has a very high standard and our minimum wage are among the highest in the world and we do not see as many poor people as other countries do.
What was your first impression of America when you first came and what is the difference between Sweden and the U.S?
The frightening lack of education, how many homeless and poor people that there are in one of the world’s richest countries and the high level of difference between poor and rich and even more so between races. Also the frightening amount of violence and weapons and the crime rate, and for that matter the scary part of the law system. The good things are the higher level of freedom to be able to do things that aren’t possible in so many other places, and obviously the beautiful diverse nature of the U.S. when it comes to the many states it has and the many weather conditions that the US has compared to Scandinavia.
I love living in Los Angeles where the sun shines more or less 90 % of the time and the fact that I have already experienced earthquakes is impressive.
There are many both positive and negative differences between US and Scandinavia – but as I always say – when in Rome do as the Roman’s do…
Who are some of your biggest inspirations and why?
My Parents, my Grandparents, my children and husband. I am fascinated by people who have great minds. People who are great inventors or professors, the ones that educate and help find answers, resources and medical inventions. I get inspiration from so many people both known and unknown – inspiration is so many things – I can read on Einstein’s theories about Nasa’s space travels, about Bell’s inventions or listen to a 15 year old on Cyber Dust impress and inspire me. So to name one and why would be hard for me because I would be fooling both you and me for not mentioning all and every one – but since you want me to – I am quite inspired by my own accomplishments given that I am both Blonde and Swedish – as you can imagine it has been a long hard journey.
If you could solve a world problem what would it be?
Hunger, Illness, War and Violence and all nature problems so again, can’t give you one answer.
What advice would you give the youth out there looking to blaze their own path?
Get educated, either through school or hard work up by working through hierarchy. Better yourself every day, be motivated, eat well, get sleep and exercise. Be determined, don’t quit, don’t give up – know you can reach your goals, as long as you know what they are, listen and learn. Behave, stay of drugs, alcohol and don’t SMOKE and get used to giving more than you get.
Now at UYD, we are always looking to find out different ways people use their difference to make a difference. How do you use your difference to make a difference?
First off all by being ME and not caring too much about what other people think and say. I try to be happy all day every day, smile, help as many as I can. I do onto others as I want to be done to me. I have learned to look simultaneously at the NOW and the big picture. I try to be kind, to listen more than I speak although that is a hard task. I try to better myself every day so that I can do better and thereby make a difference. I try to go a few steps away from the norm, try to do what others did not do. Every day, I try to accomplish something for someone else, i.e: give to charity, give food to a poor or homeless person, help someone in any need or just make someone happy.
Where can we find out more about you and what you’re up to?
You can find my various businesses here: www.artistagroup.com, Artista Group, RubioRex Productions and on social media i’m at https://www.facebook.com/ArtistaManagement, https://www.facebook.com/pages/RubioRex-Productions/1518690035043753 , https://www.facebook.com/birgitta.a.sunding on Facebook http://www.twitter.com/@BsThorsen on Twitter, http://lnkd.in/bU7ZQKU on LinkedIn and +bsthorsen in Cyber Dust. You may also email me at info@artistagroup.com
