She was born on 18 June 1942 in
Jääski, which was part of the
Viipuri Province in
Finland at the time of her birth, but is now known as Svetogorsk in
Leningrad Oblast,
Russia. Uosukainen worked as editor of the Kustannus Oy Tammi publishing house 1965–1966, before beginning university studies. She graduated with a
Licentiate in
Philosophy in 1970. She also worked as a teacher from 1969, becoming a Senior Teacher in 1971. She continued her career in education by becoming a Lecturer in
Finnish language didactics at the
University of Joensuu in 1976. She also served as Regional Teacher Educator in Finnish from 1976 to 1983. == Political career ==