About me

As a writer and photographer, I want to share stories that offer a new perception of people and places. I specialize in nonprofit communication and also write about a wide range of topics, such as nature and wildlife, animals, overland traveling, and social issues. My articles have been featured in a variety of European and American magazines and on websites, and my scripts used for documentaries.

I regularly get the question on where my urge to live abroad came from. Part deprivation, part innate restlessness I’d say. Growing up in Sweden gave me an overdose of rainy summers, pine trees, and Volvos. As a result, I left before the ink on my high school diploma had dried. The call to explore new places took hold, and a variety of odd but mostly fun jobs supported my travels before I decided to settle down and go to law school. This time, the diploma hadn’t even been printed before I left to work with various human rights projects in Guatemala. In that capacity I was fortunate to meet many brave and passionate people who fought for justice and better living conditions. Writing about them in my field reports soon became my favorite task. After several years of managing aid programs, I took the foolish (in my mom’s words) yet fulfilling step of quitting my lucrative, safe job at the European Commission and embarked on the journey of freelance writing. 

I suppose my belief in social justice grew somewhere along the road of mopping bar floors in Greece and visiting poor Mayan villages in Central America. Exploring other countries has also made me appreciate the natural wonders our world harbors—whether it’s a herd of giraffes running across the savannah or a colorful beetle in my own backyard. I now live in Arizona, USA, but I still keep strong ties to Guatemala and work for a local conservation nonprofit there. 

What's a "Saraguate?"

Saraguate means howler monkey in Central American Spanish. The monkey’s loud call carries through the lush rainforest canopy for all animals to hear. I chose this name because it represents a wish to share my encounters and impressions of the surrounding world with others. The howlers also remind me of waking up in the rainforest at dawn—at first wanting to throw something hard at these noisy early birds, but then succumbing to a deep appreciation of nature. I hope you will enjoy what you read. If not, please don’t throw anything at me.