Ayan Aden is rising up as one of the industry’s most forward-thinking, idiosyncratic young talents.

The creative at Finnish agency hasan & partners has always defied conventions.

She broke into advertising by starting a “local brand just for fun, getting it off the ground on Instagram” when she was only in high school, she said. Later, while studying advertising design at Turku University of Applied Sciences, Aden caught hasan & partners’ attention by opening a vintage shop, during the height of COVID-19-related lockdowns, with the purpose of doing advertising.

“I learned and experimented with various campaigns, which proved to be pretty successful,” she said. “My days were pretty full, since I was still in school and also running the shop. But the experience boosted my learning and opened plenty of doors for me.”

Aden is also becoming known for championing diversity. For Finnish women’s magazine Eeva, she was behind a campaign that used OpenAI to spotlight the sexism that exists in the world.

Half Somali and half Finnish, Aden said she makes “it a point to open doors for others whenever I can.”

“From the beginning of any client relationship, I make it a point to integrate diversity, ensuring it’s never an afterthought,” she said. “A proactive approach helps clients appreciate the importance of diverse representation right from the start.”