IB graduate profile - Kim Ikonen

Graduated from Kungsholmen's Gymnasium, Sweden, in 1990.

"My name is Kim Ikonen and I graduated from the IB program at Kungsholmen’s Gymnasium in Stockholm, June 1990. After the IB, I traveled in the US and Panama, lived with Kuna Indians in the Caribbean, went to a make-up artist school in Denmark and ate too many hotdogs wrapped in bacon for a while, and lived in Helsinki - a very harmonious period of working, reading books, taking five dance classes a week and eating my mother’s macro-biotic cooking until finally deciding to resume my studies and move back to Sweden.

I started studying business administration at Stockholm University in 1992. At the same time I did small jobs doing make-up in the fashion industry. In 1995 I lived in Paris during the summer doing make-up and sitting in bohemian cafés feeling debonair, drinking tea in order to avoid being accosted by Frenchmen in the street. I returned to Sweden restless, and auditioned for a drama school in Stockholm that I attended for a year while writing my thesis at university. After getting into an agency as a make-up artist and working for a year, I continued my drama studies at Scenstudion where I completed their two-year course in 1999, doing occasional make-up jobs on the side.

Since 1999 I have freelanced as a make-up artist, actress, dancer, and writer in different areas of the entertainment industry. I have done make-up on a couple of feature films, shorts, and on dozens of pop/rock artists and actors for promotional material, including music videos, commercials and photo shoots. For some time I was a columnist, writing humorous philosophical observations of everyday life. As an actress, I have performed in a dozen plays, shorts, been on the cast of a daily soap opera for a season, done voice-over work, interactive theater and commercials. In 2001/2002 I lived in the sunny Canary Islands working as an entertainer and dancer at a hotel. It was a wonderful opportunity to get intense dance training as well as to brush up my Spanish and German, as the hotel guests were primarily German!

Throughout my creative years I have returned to my university studies from time to time “just in case” and only just completed my Bachelor’s Degree in social science with a major in business administration, including courses in media and communications. I have also worked caring for the elderly at a retirement home and rehabilitation center on and off for seven years. Lately I have enjoyed doing translation work for a PR company and hosting foreign journalists visiting Sweden and Denmark.

At the moment I am still self-employed but sometimes consider getting a stable job, as my fiancé and I are planning on getting married next summer, and all that it entails. When I’m not working I love reading, listening to music, taking walks, meeting friends, and taking dance classes. For further info, check out my website www.kimikonen.com and please drop me a line in my guest book!"