Åsa Larsson Blind (born 29 August 1980) is a Swedish-

Sámi Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

politician who as of March 2021 serves as vice president of the

Saami Council The Saami Council is a voluntary, non-governmental organization of the Sámi people made up of nine Sámi member organizations from Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. Since the founding of the Nordic Saami Council in 1956, among the first indi ...

Political life

She grew up in a Sámi family that cares for

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

. She has studied at the University of Umeå and holds a master's degree in human resource management. Larsson Blind joined the Saami Council in 2008 as a representative of (SSR, the National Union of the Swedish Sámi People). In 2011, she was elected vice president of the council and in February 2017 was elected president. Her term as president ended in February 2021 and she was again elected vice president. In her time with the Saami Council, Larsson Blind also served from 2011 to 2015, on the board of the

Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples Secretariat The Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat (IPS) is a secretariat for the six international Indigenous organizations affiliated with the eight-nation Arctic Council. The IPS does not represent indigenous peoples or their organizations, b ...

. In 2019, she became the first woman elected to lead the SSR.

Personal life

Born to a family of

reindeer herders Reindeer herding is when reindeer are herded by people in a limited area. Currently, reindeer are the only semi-domesticated animal which naturally belong to the North. Reindeer herding is conducted in nine countries: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russ ...

, Larsson Blind is originally from in

Västerbotten Västerbotten (), sometimes called West Bothnia or Westrobothnia, is a province (''landskap'') in northern Sweden, located by the Gulf of Bothnia. It borders the provinces of Ångermanland, Lapland and Norrbotten. The region is famous for Väs ...

, Sweden, but lives in

Övre Soppero Övre Soppero (; Meänkieli: ''Yli-Soppero''; Northern Sámi: ''Badje Sohppar'') is a locality situated in Kiruna Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located ...

Norrbotten Norrbotten (), sometimes called North Bothnia, is a Swedish province (''landskap'') in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland. Administration The traditional provinces of Swede ...

. She holds a master's degree in human resources management from the University of Umeå.

References

External links

* 1980 births Living people Swedish Sámi politicians Umeå University alumni People from Västerbotten County Swedish women activists 21st-century Swedish women politicians Sámi women {{Sweden-politician-stub