To stay in Umeå or move away. This has been a recurring question in Cecilia Sandström's life. Today, she works to develop the region's international tourist destinations. She won't be moving for a while, but the world is welcome to come here. 

Drinking a good cup of coffee or swimming naked in a mountain stream may well be the meaning of life. Cecilia Sandström carries this insight with her as she refines valuable places into sustainable world-class destinations:

For me it is important that the visitor gets some kind of wow feeling. It doesn't have to be an adrenaline rush. Endorphins are more than enough.

From 2023, anyone travelling to Granö Beckasin in the Västerbotten hinterland will pass the Nabben, a welcoming portal building that leads on to the fantastic natural and cultural experiences that the surroundings have to offer. The building is a recycled pavilion used by Volvo to showcase its cars around the world. It is now being remodelled to withstand the winter climate of northern Sweden and to house some of the public and administrative parts of the tourism business.  

The spider in the web during the development process is Cecilia Sandström, owner of the company M en Place, which for three years has alternated sharp customer assignments with its own business development at eXpression Umeå.   
 
- It has been a lot of fun. When you go from leading an organisation with 120 employees to being completely on your own, the social aspect becomes important. By sitting here, I've been able to chat with business coaches and other entrepreneurs about the difficulties they face or just have a coffee from time to time. 

It was far from a newly hatched concept creator who entered the business incubator in 2019. Cecilia Sandström has had a hand in the development of several of Umeå's most popular establishments, not least at the cultural centre Väven, where she was head of operations for the owner company Blå huset. Nevertheless, she believes that we do not yet have any truly world-class visitor destinations, at least none that have succeeded in communicating their value beyond national borders, as Norrbotten's Icehotel has done. But soon! 

Cecilia Sandström created her first creative concept at Viktoria, the restaurant that won the hearts of the people of Umeå with its special combination of warmth and elegance. 

- I had just graduated and been offered a job with Mattias Dahlgren in Stockholm when Anna Göransdotter and Markus Olsson called me to a meeting. They offered me the opportunity to help develop a new restaurant concept in Victor's premises. So I decided to stay. We gave it our all and it turned out really well," she says. 

The question of whether to stay or move was already present when Cecilia was growing up. Her parents worked for Sida in technology and healthcare. Therefore, before school age, she lived in Vietnam and Zambia. They would probably have moved abroad again, had tragedy not struck. At the age of 12, Cecilia Sandström lost her father to cancer, which had a decisive impact on her life choices. 

- I grew up pretty quickly and became a little old, cooking and fixing things. I became the one who organised things and I still am," she says.  

In the summer between seventh and eighth grade, she spent a few weeks with a friend in Sollefteå, working in a neighbourhood restaurant. It was a welcome respite from her family's grief, but also a way into a new world. Serving diners was a kind of theatre that she enjoyed, an exciting way to participate in people's celebrations and joys. 

The summer job was followed by countless seasons and extra hours in different restaurants, an invaluable schooling in food and hospitality. She met chefs from France and Italy, the bar manager at Greta's taught her all about whiskey. Cecilia soaked up the knowledge and enjoyed the finer points of cleaning the salt cellar and sweeping the tables. Even then she wanted - and still wants - to discover more, maybe move abroad? Geneva would be nice, both she and her partner think.  

But right now it doesn't fit. Cecilia is firmly anchored in Västerbotten, for several reasons. Her work is more rewarding than ever, she has wonderful godchildren to spend time with, not to mention her friends. She always feels at home in her group of girlfriends. 

We usually go to the mountains, pick mushrooms, drink wine, swim naked in a stream... They are a great comfort. I hope that we will continue to be there for each other when we are 85. We're actually talking about moving into a commune when we retire. Maybe in the south of France? 

Text: Hanna Kangassalo 
Photo: Evelina Rönnbäck

Good to know about Cecilia Sandström: 

• Since 2018, the consulting company M en Place offers creative business and concept development with a focus on the hospitality industry. Preferably in the early stages towards property developers to ensure a good investment. The company name comes from the French kitchen term, Mise en Place, which means "everything in place". 

• She describes her role as a bridge between owners and investors on one side and the operator on the other. "If you synchronise development from the beginning, everyone benefits in the long run." 
• Trained as a business economist and from a young age trained in restaurant work through seasonal and extra jobs, including in Borgafjäll and at Restaurant Viktor in Umeå.  
• After watching Valerie and Ron Taylor's film about sharks, she longed to become a marine biologist and started studying science in Gothenburg, Sweden, before realising that it would likely lead to work in a lab, rather than adventure at sea.  
• Has had a hand in the development of several of Umeå's most popular establishments. Has, among other things, built up and run Restaurant Viktoria and been operations manager at Väven. 
• Grew up in Vietnam, Zambia and Sweden. Has a fondness for the Swedish mountains and may consider moving abroad when her two godchildren are older. 

• Current assignments in autumn 2022: Further development of the Granö Beckasin visitor destination and negotiations with new restaurateurs for the Arts Campus in Umeå. 
• The definition of a world-class destination, according to Cecilia, is when a business stands out conceptually and harmonises with its surroundings. Everything has to be in place: the environment, communications and other destinations in the vicinity.