Linnea
“There are still a lot of men out there who don’t think women belong on a ship. Proving them wrong keeps me growing even stronger.”
Linnea is a driven and diligent leader, serving as a second officer in the Northern offshore services. Growing up in a place extensively involved in shipping, there were not a lot of female officers in her merchant community, and she was often deterred from working in such a male-dominated sphere. She, along with her female counterparts at sea, are helping to ensure women are respected and empowered in this field of work, tackling duties such as maintaining and operating large ships, delivering parts, as well as handling and utilizing heavy machinery and tools. She has endured instances of sexism in her career thus far, but this has only strengthened her desire to create space for other women and girls to climb aboard. Meet Linnea. This is her story.
K: Please introduce yourself!
L: Hello, my name is Linnea Kristensson, born and raised on Donsö, a small Island on the west coast of Sweden. Mostly known for being the worlds most dense place of shipping companies, a place where almost everyone is involved in shipping somehow.
I’m 22 years old and work as a second officer in the offshore wind farm business, operating a high speed catamaran delivering technicians and spare parts to the wind farms and hotel ships.
K: Describe or define yourself in your own words.
L: I’m a young woman with a lot of go-ahead spirit who have always known what I wanted to do. When you first meet me I can seem a bit distanced, but as soon as you get to know me closer you will notice that most of the time I’m very happy and full of energy.
K: What is your favorite thing about yourself?
L: I would say my creativity and my social skills. If I see someone who seems to be outside the group I try my best to be the inclusive one and make everyone feel like they are a part of the team.
K: Tell us a story. Have you had an experience that’s defined you or made you stronger?
L: As mentioned, growing up in a shipping community has prepared me well and given me a good knowledge about the business I was heading for. Although it is a big shipping community, the problem there is the same as all over the world, there are not a lot of women working onboard the ships. From a very young age, I joined my dad during his work on a fishing vessel and him working as a pilot boat captain.
Despite feeling prepared for what was coming, it was something completely different going out as a cadet first time on my own, without my father to lean on.
It made me grow stronger and learn to stand my ground and not let other people push me around. There are still a lot of men out there who don’t think women belong on a ship. Proving them wrong keeps me growing even stronger.
K: What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?
L: When I was younger I always thought that I had to be more manly to be accepted among my future colleagues. Over the years I have learned that this was wrong, so I want to tell my younger self that I am good as I am and not to change my personality based upon the choice of work. It is just fine if you want to walk around in pink clothes and high heels.
K: What does being a woman mean to you?
L: I feel that with my interest in photography and presence online in social media, I can help support and inspire other women to try and explore other lines of work that historically have been dominated by men.
I can sometimes feel that this presence in combination with being a woman makes me stand out in the Swedish merchant community but I am only human and bound to make mistakes just like everyone else.
K: Who is one woman that inspires you? What would you say to her if she were here now?
L: I do not believe that I can point out any specific woman that inspires me, but all of the women that have paved the way for all of us and given us the possibility to work at sea.
I’m inspired by all those women who has the go-ahead spirit and fight for what they want to do and succeed in their line of work.
As a child I was told by older men that “you as a woman cannot work at sea with all the men”; I used to refer to women I knew worked in shipping and if they could, why wouldn’t I be able to? Another cool thing is that the company I work for now has a very drifty and inspiring woman as a CEO.