We sat down with Nea to hear about her first year at Simon-Kucher’s Helsinki office – how she made the leap from law to consulting, tackled a steep learning curve, and what advice she has for consultants just starting their careers.
Nea Luukko joined our Helsinki office with a background in law and plenty of curiosity about the consulting world. One year in, she reflects on the highs and challenges of her first 12 months at Simon-Kucher. From exciting project work to karaoke Fridays, Nea shares the lessons, challenges, and small wins that made her career start both fun and rewarding and at the end, she offers her best advice for new joiners just starting out.
What made you choose Simon-Kucher, and how has your first year compared to your expectations?
Nea: A friend tipped me off that Simon-Kucher had opened an office in Helsinki and said it was a great place to kick-start a consulting career. The idea of joining a company that was still in its early stages locally, but backed by a strong global presence, really appealed to me. I was drawn to the mix of entrepreneurial spirit, agility, and the chance to grow alongside a tight-knit team. And honestly, it turned out to be exactly as my friend described – a global consultancy with a startup feel and amazing colleagues.
How would you describe the learning curve in your first year?
Nea: It could be described as making it to the base camp of Mount Everest. At the beginning, you don’t fully grasp what you’re getting into – but once you start the journey, it’s clear that it’s an uphill climb from there. Every day brings new challenges, new skills to master, and a deeper understanding of what it will take to eventually reach the summit.
There’s a constant sense of progress, and while the learning curve can be intense, it’s also incredibly rewarding. By the end of the first year, you may not be at the top yet, but you’ve built a strong foundation and gained the resilience and perspective needed to keep climbing.
What types of projects have you worked on so far, and what have been the most exciting challenges?
Nea: I’ve been fortunate to work on a diverse range of projects – everything from developing negotiation tactics for a cosmetics company, to pricing strategy for a fintech firm, to green commercialization for an industrials company, and even designing next-generation heavy machinery. That variety is exactly what made my first year so dynamic and fulfilling.
Each project came with its own set of challenges, each client brought a different perspective, and no two days ever looked the same. It keeps you sharp – constantly learning, adapting, and growing. And that, for me, is the most exciting challenge: diving into unfamiliar topics, getting up to speed quickly, and finding ways to make a real impact in a short amount of time.
What's the best PowerPoint hack you've learned so far?
Nea: Shortcuts, shortcuts, shortcuts. As consultants, we spend a lot of time making beautiful slides – so learning how to work efficiently is key. If you’re manually aligning every little box and shape, you’re making life much harder than it needs to be. Mastering shortcuts for alignment, distribution, and formatting is a total game changer. Unless, of course, you’ve reached the level where you get to review the slides while someone else does the aligning for you.
If your consulting career were a Nordic dish, what would it be and why?
Nea: I’d say a cinnamon bun – warm, soft, and sweet, just like the best parts of consulting: great teams, exciting projects, and those little wins that make your day. But if you leave it on the table too long, it can get a bit hard to chew – kind of like when you overthink or overwork things without keeping momentum. It’s all about timing, energy, and keeping it fresh.
What’s the most "consultant-y" thing you've caught yourself doing outside of work?
Nea: Coming from a law background, I barely touched Excel before joining consulting, maybe just to open a spreadsheet someone else had made. Now, when my friends struggle or ask for help, I catch myself saying things like, “Oh, that’s easy, you just do this and that in Excel and you’re done.” Then I hear myself and realize – okay, maybe it’s not that obvious after all.
If you could sum up your first year at Simon-Kucher in three words, what would they be?
Nea: Fun, Exciting, Rewarding!
Fun, because I have the privilege of working with amazing colleagues who bring energy, humor, and on top of that, are intelligent. And of course, there's the Friday karaoke, a Helsinki office specialty. Exciting, because I get to dive into interesting, new topics that push me to grow and keep me engaged. Rewarding, because I can see how much I’ve learned and how far I’ve come since I first started – especially when clients express their satisfaction with our deliverables.
If you could give one piece of advice to someone starting as a consultant at Simon-Kucher, what would it be?
Nea: Be yourself, keep an open mind, and don’t worry, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Starting out as a consultant can feel overwhelming, but it's important to remember that skills and confidence are built over time.
Embrace the learning process, and don’t be too hard on yourself when things don’t come together immediately. Staying true to who you are and keeping an open mindset will allow you to grow and succeed in the long run.