Queer passion straight from the heart

In Iceland most people spend New Year’s Eve with family or close friends. It’s generally considered important to be with your closest ones when the clock strikes 12, and only after that you go out for a party with a bigger crew.

With Eva María Þórarinsdóttir Lange, her girlfriend Birna Hrönn Björnsdóttir and their partner and friend, Hannes Pálsson, it used to be the same. But after Pink Iceland came into existence, and practically became their life, they found themselves in a complex situation.

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Queer activist and business woman Eva María Þórarinsdóttir Lange, founder and co-owner of Pink Iceland.

“Many of our guests wanted to come over for Christmas and New Year’s. We wanted to be able to give them that, but we didn’t want to sacrifice our own holidays. Birna and I always have a big New Year’s Eve party for our friends and family at home. We decided to open that up to our foreign guests so they can experience a real Icelandic New Years party.”

Eva María and Birna Hrönn live in the centre of Reykjavík. Their apartment has a great big balcony with a view and a big living room. Perfect for parties! “First we go to the classic bonfire, then we go to dinner at a downtown restaurant, followed by a walk up to Hallgrímskirkja for shooting fireworks. There, we have this beautiful moment, where each guest shoots his own personal message out into the world. Unlike Icelanders, most of our guests have never lit fireworks before so this is really a wonderful moment.”

“Birna and I always have a big New Year’s Eve party… We decided to open that up to our foreign guests.”

Then comes the party. “People just love coming to a real person’s home. We keep it real and we never put up a show or entertain our guests. It’s a real house party, where you can throw off your shoes and wear socks if you feel like, cuddle up in the sofa, chat away with an Icelander, eat “laufabrauð” [e. leaf bread, most often eaten around Christmas] and make toasts for the New Year. This kind of an atmosphere isn’t usually up for sale.”

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“It’s a real house party, where you can chat with an Icelander and make toasts for the New Year,” says Eva María.

They invite all their Icelandic friends and family members, and about 20 foreign guests.

“In every party we’ve held so far lasting friendships have been made. There has to be a good balance between locals and foreign guests. We trust our guests with all of our personal belongings. It’s all based on beautiful mutual respect, just like our business.”

GROWING UP IN ITALY

If you’ve ever met Eva María you probably connect her with happy times and a super-light, colourful spirit. Glimmer is even is her middle name, according to Facebook at least. Even so, when the holidays approach and you would expect her to happily pull out the Christmas decorations like the likes of her do, she turns inwards. She is not a Christmas child. Not since she was eight years old and moved to Naples with her mom, to live with her new Italian husband and his family.

We meet at a café in downtown Reykjavík, just a few steps away from her home in the centre. The plan is to talk about her Christmas rituals, and not before long the talk brings us to her childhood in Naples.

“Really, you grew up in Naples?!” I ask dreamily, remembering a day years ago, getting lost in the crooked streets of the ancient city in the south of Italy and loving it. “I love Naples,” I say, but she quickly pulls me back to her reality. “You do?” she says, and the tone of her voice tells me that here we have a story. Turns out she never wandered the streets of Naples alone. She was never allowed to.

Eva María (top row, third fromthe left) with classmates and teachers in Italy.
Eva María (top row, fourth from the left), around eight years old, pictured with classmates and teachers in Naples.

“I was overprotected in Naples, which is a big city, considered to be quite dangerous. In Iceland I was the kind of kid who liked playing outside, I didn’t play with dolls, just balls, bicycles and that kind of stuff. When we moved to Italy I was practically locked inside and I felt that freedom had been taken away from me. I tend to get this unsettling feeling in my stomach when Christmas approaches. It’s like some kind of a disruption in my system which I have a hard time controlling. I think it is because I never really liked Christmas in Italy. I always used to miss the Icelandic Christmas and I dreaded the Italian family Christmas parties. Family life was quite special there. Now I actually look forward to Christmas and it’s a heartwarming feeling to be a part of a tradition I’ve created with my family and friends.”

“I felt alone with those feelings and I tried to suppress them … Moving to Iceland helped me come to terms with being a lesbian.”

She was never able to conform to the role of the woman in society in Italy. “The woman is supposed to stay at home, cooking and cleaning. That is what my mother does and has been doing since 1989. Sure, in Iceland she was a housewife, but a kind of a “party” housewife. And by that I mean that our house in Iceland was like a train station, alive! That’s how I like to have my home. In Naples you are taught that women are second class people. So many little things used to bother me over there. When one of my friend’s father was having an affair, my friend said: “What do you expect? He is a man and he has his needs.”

When Eva María started being interested in girls, life became even more complicated. “I think I was 8 or 9 when I first told my mother that I thought I would never marry a man. She took it as a statement about not getting married at all. I was around 13 or 14 when I mentioned it again and she said: “Don’t be silly, you’re just going through a phase.” Still today it surprises me how little impact this upbringing had on me. The most logical path for me would have been to keep living there and marrying an Italian man, repressing who I was. But I refused to get into that mindset.”

STILL INSIDE THE ITALIAN CLOSET

Eva María moved from Italy and back to Iceland when she was only 15 years old. Last October she visited her home town again, accompanied by her partner Birna, Hannes, and his partner Villi. Ten years had passed since she last visited and Birna had never met most of her family members. It was only on the same day they came that her mother finally told her husband that Eva María is gay.

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Intimate moment Kissing at Verona.

“He took it okay, it didn’t seem like a big deal although it wasn’t discussed at all. I don’t know why my mom didn’t just tell him 20 years ago, I don’t know what she thought would happen.”

The four friends travelled around Italy. Almost every time they booked double rooms the hosts switched the names of the couples, listin Eva María as the wife of one man and Birna the wife of the other. When they went to parties, everyone thought they were two straight couples.

In the southern part of Italy being gay is not accepted. The rest of Eva’s Italian family still even doesn’t know that she is a lesbian. It seems strange that someone who is as outspoken and important in the queer rights scene here in Iceland is still living a double life.

“It’s ridiculous, I know. But this is very important to my mom and I feel like I have to respect that. So, in reality I am still living a double life, one here and another there. Of course I would prefer to tell my Italian family. I feel like I have nothing to lose. If they would all stop talking to me I would simply feel sorry for them.

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Friends Birna, Eva’s girlfriend, and their friends Hannes and Villi, traveling in Italy.

When Birna and I were at the Vatican, and a group of nuns came walking by, we spontaneously kissed right in front of them. We enjoyed seeing the look on their faces. We don’t mind shaking things up. But it’s for my mother’s sake that I don’t tell my Italian family about being a lesbian. It’s important for her. She still lives there and I don’t.”

HOME SWEET HOME

There’s always a bright side to every story. Growing up in Italy, Eva María learned to appreciate her home country, which she always associated with freedom. She had also learned to trust in herself and to believe in her gut feelings. She felt that she was supposed to move back to Iceland, and at 15 she left Naples to move back. So, as a complexed teenager, she sat down in an Icelandic classroom, for the first time in a very long time. Her goal was to finish the final exams of primary school which would give her access to an Icelandic high school.

Outgoing "In Iceland I was the kind of kid who liked playing outside." Eva María pictured around the age of 5.
Outgoing “In Iceland I was the kind of kid who liked playing outside.” Eva María pictured around the age of 5.

“Moving to Iceland helped me come to terms with being a lesbian. Still, I didn’t know anyone else who was. At that time there was no platform on the internet that I knew of where you could find people like yourself or at least know they existed. I felt alone with those feelings and I tried to suppress them. I had boyfriends to try to prove it to myself that I wasn’t a lesbian.”

She focused on passing her exams. She had to pass math, Icelandic, English and Danish, so her experience from the Italian education was not much of a help. “I had never been in school in Iceland before for more than a few months at a time, so I was a kind of a challenge for the school system. They had never had a student that age, who had hardly learned any English. I hadn’t learned Icelandic either nor Danish. Two schools even denied taking me in, but Hlíðaskóli luckily accepted me. I went all-in and aced the exams.”

“We’ve heard that some people … say that we are simply capitalists … but our job is our life and we do it with queer passion straight from the heart.”

In high school she turned inwards. “No one remembers me from MH [abbreviation for Menntaskólinn í Hamrahlíð, or Hamrahlid College in Reykjavík]. I kept a low profile. Luckily I had a group of friends I had met in Hlíðaskóli [a primary school in Reykjavík]. They saved my social life.”

WORKING WITH THE HEART

As time passed, little by little Eva María emerged from her shell and started building the life of the human right’s activist and business woman she is today. In 2007 she met Birna. “What was important for me personally, when Birna and I got to know each other, was to have a home of our own. I never felt at home in Italy, I simply lived there and I was never really happy.”

A few years after they met, in 2011, they founded Pink Iceland, “Iceland’s first and foremost gay and lesbian owned and operated travel and event expert” as their web page claims. Eva María was working in the tourism industry at the time and had noticed that none of the companies there were focusing on queer travellers.

Pink Iceland specializes in weddings in Iceland and offers wedding planning all year round. Photo/ www.arcticweddingsiceland.com
Wedding planners Pink Iceland specializes in weddings in Iceland. Photo/www.arcticweddingsiceland.com

Eva María describes Pink Iceland as being born out of passion. “We were running a queer bar and a café then, I had a full-time job and Birna was studying full-time. We were busy, but our hearts were taking us in that direction and we followed. Pink Iceland is like our baby and I’ll admit that I get touchy when we get criticised. We’ve heard that some people from the queer community say that we are simply capitalists, tapping into queer money. Sure, we are running a business, but our job is our life and we do it with queer passion straight from the heart.”

They run Pink Iceland with their friend, Hannes. “We have a similar view on how to do business. We believe we are creating a new way of doing business. We are 100 percent honest about our services. We never use the “free booking” trick. There is no such thing as free in business. We have an honesty policy. We make it clear what our service is about and the guest knows that we have to take our share. People aren’t used to honesty anymore.”

An important side of what they offer is 24/7 access to a real human being. Personal service is what it’s all about. “We do our best to meet all of our guests, which is a crucial part of our service. Sometimes they’ve been following us on Instagram for a few years and when we finally meet they hug us as if we were old friends.”

FILTERING OUT THE MEAN PEOPLE

Pink Iceland is growing fast and only this year three people have been added to the group of staff. Now six people work at the office down town Reykjavík and many more when you count the photographers, videographers, celebrants, singers, hair & makeup stylists, cooks, bakers, drivers and other contractors Pink Iceland depends on.

The demand for their services is high and many business savvy friends of the three owners have pointed out that the agency could grow much bigger without the queer focus. However, the fact of the matter is that about half of their customers are straight.

Eva María says the queer stamp works as a filter against mean people, as people exist who do not want to do business with a gay owned company that caters mainly to queer clientele. “We are not interested in their business. We serve all, as long as they are not mean. We only work with nice people. We’ve done business with people with a bad attitude but that only happens once. The same goes for the people who use our services. After all, we believe that is the only right way. Our long-term goal is that Pink Iceland becomes a way of living, of thinking and doing business. That people will say: “We did it the Pink Iceland way.” That’s our dream.”

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Masquerading with Páll Óskar Pink Iceland will be hosting its glamorous Pink Masquerade Party on February 13th 2016, as part of The Reykjavík Rainbow festival (February 11-14th 2016).

Main photo: The Pink Team Eva María, Hannes and Birna.

Á. Óskarsson
Á. Óskarsson

Á. Óskarsson offers a variety of products and services to sports centers, swimming pools, schools, kindergartens, and the general public. The company specializes in sport-related products, activity-focused games, and a wide range of solutions for sports facilities.

Á. Óskarsson has been involved in numerous big projects related to building sports facilities and has made it their benchmark to offer good quality products and equipment since the company was founded.

See links to social media in the upper left-hand corner

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Á. Óskarsson selur fjölbreytt vöruúrval fyrir íþróttahús, sundlaugar, skóla og leikskóla og einnig ýmsar vörur til einkaafnota. Fyrirtækið selur vörur til íþróttaiðkunnar og leikja ásamt því að bjóða upp á ýmsar lausnir fyrir íþróttamannvirki.

Á. Óskarsson hefur komið að fjölda stórra verkefna við byggingu íþróttamannvirkja og hefur frá stofnun kappkostað að bjóða vandaðar og endingargóðar vörur.

Tenglar á samfélagsmiðla eru í efra horninu vinstra megin.

Webpage/vefsetur

Blush

    Blush was founded in 2011 when it started selling high quality sex products. The goal from the beginning was to change the market and take the discussion about sex products to a higher level. Today Blush provides professional services in a pleasant environment that fulfills different needs, both for individuals and couples. Blush respects diversity and wants to set a good example in all of its messaging to target audiences. Sexual health and equality in sex is important and Blush wants to focus on those issues through education and open discussion. Blush works in a socially responsible manner for society, their customers and the environment.

    Check out Blush’s website: https://blush.is/

    Omnom Chocolate
    - award-winning chocolate maker

      Omnom Chocolate is an Icelandic craft chocolate company based in Reykjavík. We produce handcrafted chocolate from organic cacao beans sourced ethically and sustainably. We’ve developed direct relationships to create premium chocolate with fine flavor cacao beans.

      Our creative flavors are carefully crafted by meticulous chocolate makers. The cacao beans are roasted, winnowed, ground, and refined into melty-smooth chocolate.

      Omnom’s process is one of constant exploration, invention, and experimentation. If it doesn’t please us, if something isn’t absolutely delicious, there’s no reason to be doing it. So, we always start with our taste buds and follow our instincts. Our team searches for the finest ingredients in the world and new ways to improve chocolate. This obsession with knowing where our ingredients come from has led us around the corner to dairy farms in the Icelandic countryside and all the way to rainforest cacao farms of Nicaragua.

      In only a few short years, we’ve grown from our 50 sq. m. petrol station space and become an award-winning chocolate maker. Now, with our headquarters in 101 Reykjavík, our chocolate is sent out around Iceland and all over the world.

      At the end of the day, our goal is to make chocolate.

       

      Nasdaq

         

        Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) is a global technology company serving the capital markets and other industries. Our diverse offering of data, analytics, software and services enables clients to optimize and execute their business vision with confidence.

        With over 4,300 employees in 39 offices around the world, at Nasdaq we all contribute to the success of the company and its culture, and each one of us has the ability to make a difference. When it comes to our core mission and values, we embrace the role of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DIB) as a fundamental driver of our corporate growth, workplace culture and market development. We strive to create a culture that embraces the power of different perspectives—a culture where people’s unique backgrounds and different experiences helps us fuel innovation and support our clients around the world.

        Our unique position at the center of the capital markets allows us to see firsthand how these values have redefined corporate culture and success, deepening and accelerating our own commitment to champion inclusive growth and prosperity, as we strive to create more equitable opportunities to help people of all backgrounds reach their full potential. Most notably, we published our diversity statistics for the first time in 2020. These metrics serve as a quantitative assessment of where we are today and help determine what strategies we need to adopt to enhance diversity in the workplace. We recognize that we have much work to do, but we are steadfast in our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive culture—one that reflects the communities in which we live, allows all employees to be their true, authentic selves and fosters individual growth and achievement.

        As we move forward together, we will continue advancing diverse ideas and perspectives that help fulfill the promise of a more inclusive and prosperous world. We aim to set the pace for rethinking capital markets and economies anywhere and everywhere. To learn more about the company, technology solutions and career opportunities, visit us on LinkedIn, on Twitter @Nasdaq, or at www.nasdaq.com.

        Blue Lagoon
        - One of the 25 Wonders of the World

        Named by National Geographic as one of the 25 Wonders of the World, the Blue Lagoon is a shimmering expanse of warmth, relaxation, and rejuvenation. Its unique geothermal seawater
        comes from 2.000 meters within the earth where seawater and freshwater converge in a tectonic realm of porous lava and searing heat. Propelled by extreme pressure, the water ascends to the earth’s surface, emerging enriched with silica, algae, and minerals—the elements that endow Blue Lagoon geothermal seawater with its radiant, healing properties.

        From its humble beginnings in the shadows of a geothermal power plant, Blue Lagoon has evolved into a world of wonder, now encompassing two hotels, three restaurants, three
        geothermal lagoons, a subterranean spa, a renowned line of skin care, a thriving research center, and a wealth of spa and refreshment facilities.

        Achieving harmony with the volcanic landscape, the lagoon and its surrounding architecture embody the unification of the man-made and the natural, and adhere to the highest principles of sustainability.

        The Blue Lagoon. A wonder of the world. A world of wonder.

        Landsbankinn
        - leading financial institution
        Landsbankinn

        Landsbankinn is a leading Icelandic financial institution. It offers a full range of financial services and is the market leader in the Icelandic financial service sector with the largest branch network.

        The present bank was established on 7 October 2008 but the history of its predecessor dates back to 1886. The bank is owned by the National Treasury of Iceland, which holds 98.2% of its share capital, and other shareholders who own 1.8%.

        Landsbankinn’s strategy is to provide comprehensive financial services that meet customer’s needs. It emphasizes providing exemplary service to customers, developing e-banking for their convenience, increasing the efficiency of support functions, modernizing its technology and ensuring effective utilization of its balance sheet.

        The bank’s vision is to be exemplary and its role is to be a trusted financial partner.

        Special emphasis is placed on promoting a performance-oriented culture in the bank. To follow up on the implementation of this strategy, the bank has defined key goals which are measured regularly to determine progress. These goals include, for example, customer satisfaction and loyalty, profitability, cost efficiency and the correlation between risk appetite and employee satisfaction.

        Landsbankinn wishes to lead the development of a sustainable society in Iceland by integrating economic, social and environmental concerns in its operations. The Bank aims to ensure that both its owners and society at large benefit from its activities.

        It intends to achieve this aim by building solid infrastructure and a strong team of 1.100 employees, by listening to its customers and by respecting and encouraging its employees to actively participate in their community. Landsbankinn was a founding member of Festa, a Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, and is a member of the UN Global Compact.

        Landsbankinn has been a proud sponsor of the Reykjavik Pride since it was first celebrated in Iceland.

        Dohop
        - get inspired
        Dohop

        Dohop allows people to find the cheapest flights available with just one click. Founded in Reykjavik in 2004, it is the only Icelandic company of its kind and quickly became the go-to tool for finding cheap flights among the locals. Dohop finds the best deals among hundreds of different airlines and online travel agencies, to make sure that the user is getting the cheapest price. Dohop also offers hotel and car rental search engines, so users can make all of their travel bookings from a single website.

        Dohop‘s specialty is finding so-called “self-connect” flight options, which can save travelers money by booking a ticket through two or more different airlines. The ability to look for these self-connect option is what sets Dohop apart from its competition, as it can save people hundreds of dollars on certain routes.

        More recently, Dohop has developed a unique product called Dohop Go!, which allows users to check for the cheapest available flights from their home airport. This tool is perfect for those who are looking for travel inspiration but are not willing to overpay for their flight ticket. Dohop Go! is now available in the Dohop Flights App, both for Android and iOS, along with its traditional flight, hotel, and car search engines. “

        VSÓ Ráðgjöf

           

          VSÓ Ráðgjöf er alhliða ráðgjafar- og verkfræðifyrirtæki sem leggur áherslu á trausta og faglega þjónustu sem tryggir viðskiptavinum hagkvæmustu lausnir hverju sinni, skilar raunverulegum árangri og stuðlar að samkeppnisforskoti.  Á skrifstofum VSÓ í Reykjavík og í Noregi starfar yfir 80 manna samhentur hópur verkfræðinga og annarra tæknimenntaðra starfsmanna.

          Macland
          - for all your Apple needs
          Macland

          From starting out as a proper startup with only a good idea and the need to change things, to becoming an established company with 6 employees. Starting from scratch and expanding organically has allowed us to love our expansion and take our customers on the ride with us.

          Macland is located at Laugavegur 23 (101, Downtown Reykjavik)
          For all your Apple needs. We are here.

          Ísey skyr
          - once tasted never forgotten

          Our Story
          Once upon a time, 1,100 years ago in fact, Nordic settlers began arriving in Iceland. They brought with them the skills and knowledge for producing skyr. As time passed, the know-how and recipe for this nutritious food slowly faded out elsewhere in the Nordic region. Luckily, the Icelandic skyr-making tradition continued.

          For centuries, Icelandic skyr formed a cornerstone of the national diet, helping to keep people strong in living conditions that were often harsh. On family farms countrywide, it was the women who nurtured this dairy and passing on both the recipe and the original Icelandic skyr cultures from mother to daughter.

          Ísey skyr builds on this remarkable legacy. It was some of those very same women, the recipients of their mothers’ expertise, who, around 90 years ago, taught Icelandic dairy scientists the art of skyr-making. The production process is more high-tech these days, and the quality standards more rigorous. However, the basic recipe and the use of original cultures to ferment the skimmed milk remain the same. Protein rich, fat-free, creamy and delicious – Ísey skyr is as relevant to consumers now as it was all those centuries ago.
          This is our secret and you are in on it

          You can read more about Ísey skyr on our website.

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