2015
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
It all begins on a sunny summer morning in 2015. Jakob has recently moved to Boston, MA, for work at Bain & Company - where Elena works permanently. On this day he’s visiting Cape Cod, where his mother Malin and her husband Erik are vacationing. Elena is in her apartment in Boston’s Back Bay Area. Having recently graduated from MIT, she’s eager to put her management degree to practice ;) (Can you sense yet that Jakob has written this paragraph?? 🤪)
Around noon, they both receive an invite to join a new Private Equity Due Diligence Project to assess the merger of two global tech companies… maybe the most romantic setting there is 😉, so no surprise they fall in love between Excel, PowerPoints, Equinox workouts and team events.
The next ~2 years, Elena and Jakob will spend clubbing clubbing clubbing (thanks to (bad) influences like Tamara Lewis and Haley Fuller Elliott), exploring New England every weekend, creating their first shared home in the heart of the Boston South End - where they love to cook and bake European dishes, and taking opportunities to travel the world beyond the U.S.
Shortly before moving back to Europe, they are taking a leave of absence to travel for 2.5 months to Cuba, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, Venezuela & Hawaii - a trip they still look back to now, as a very formative time for their early relationship.
2017
Stockholm, Sweden
In April of 2017, Elena and Jakob move to Stockholm, Jakob’s hometown. The move comes after a fairly lengthy debate about where in Europe to move - with Germany and Sweden as key candidates, but also neutral options like Amsterdam and Zurich being debated. Aside from language requirements, Stockholm convinced with having family directly in the city and by offering a life quality they were looking for… plus, Sweden always had a very special place in Elena’s heart - as her mother, Jutta, had always spent her career working for Swedish companies.
In Stockholm, Elena & Jakob take the huge step to starting a family - with Hugo joining them in June 2018, Oscar in December 2019 and Theo in June 2023.
Stockholm also is the city where many new friendship start and existing relationships take their next step - thanks to many friends and family members making trips to see Elena & Jakob’s (new) life there… which we are very very grateful for <3
2021
Solö, Norrtälje, Sweden
In early 2021, Elena and Jakob invited their good friends Franzi and Alex to a weekend trip to Marholmen (about 1 hour north of Stockholm). As the families explored the surrounding area, Elena and Jakob fell in love with the landscape… in fact, it reminded them of a Scandi version of their beloved Cape Cod.
Shortly after, Elena and Jakob found a piece of land they could build their version of a country house on, where they spend vacations and every weekend as a family. The design of the house was deliberately chosen to represent the mix of culture of their families - traditionally Swedish given e.g. the red wood exterior, modern given features such as the large windows and German / Spanish design elements such as half-tiled bathrooms.
On Solö, Elena and Jakob found their escape from city living, which was particularly important to Elena, as she wanted to ensure her boys would experience a childhood on the countryside, just as she did in her native Obertiefenbach in Germany.
We veeeeeeery much look forward to having many of you over on Solö for welcome drinks on August 16th.