The founder of Millakka is me, Milla Alatalo from Muonio. I have driven dog sleds my entire working career, i.e. approx. 25 years. Now I decided to start my own company (November 1, 2022) and drive dog sleds only on the side. Millakka includes a shop in the center of Muonio and our wonderful Siberian huskies with which we do small-scale safaris. My main job now is running the store.
In my time, I have studied to become a foreign trade yo merconomist, but I have not worked in that field for a single day. I have lived in Frankfurt, Germany, so I speak German fluently. 99% of my customers for dog sledding safaris came from German-speaking countries, so luckily my language skills have not gotten rusty. I have completed the professional qualification of forest and nature guide and the professional qualification of natural products. I am also a zone therapist by side, but I left those jobs some time ago. I do a lot of crafts and sometimes there are enough of them to sell. I don't like to accept commissioned work, because making handicrafts is like therapy for me. Fox fur caps, kilim caps, leather gloves, coffee bags, woolen sweaters, etc. are made in my hands.
Since dogs have been the salt of my life, there are of course several of them at home. We currently have Finnish Lapland dogs Moste and Risku and Siberian Huskies Saana, Skaidi, Staalo, Sarek, Petra, Lumikki, Tsahkal, Tsarmi, Täplä, Tinka and Verka. I breed both breeds under the kennel name Tuiskutievan. I am also a micro chipper authorized by the Finnish Kennel Club.
Millakka's Story
Where does the name Millakka come from?
While studying for a professional degree in the natural product industry, I had to complete entrepreneurial studies. One option to complete the course was to set up a NY company for a year, i.e. a student company operating with real money, with the difference that we could use the school's social security number and did not have to take our own social security number. After all, we had to come up with a name for the company, and it was a surprisingly difficult task. I couldn't come up with a suitable name. Once we were learning plant dyeing of threads in Kajaanni, and while we were busy, I asked everyone to throw different name options into the air. All kinds of options came up, but not really pleasant ones. Then teacher Heli Pirinen suggested Millakka and it started from there. NY-Millakka worked successfully for a year and then it was buried in a desk drawer until it was revived again on November 1, 2022. Thank you Heli for the great name!
🐶 Our dogs
Since dogs have been the salt of my life, there are of course several of them at home. We currently have Lapland dogs Moste and Risku and Siberian Huskies Saana , Skaidi , Staalo , Sarek , Petra , Lumikki , Tsahkal , Tsarmi , Täplä , Tinka and Verka . I breed both breeds under the kennel name Tuiskutievan. I am also a micro chipper authorized by the Finnish Kennel Club.
