ABOUT
Supporting individuals and communities in creating the change for better
EQUALITY INC.
Meaningful change grows through shared understanding and collaboration.
Equality Inc. is a platform and a community for change, working at the intersection of equality, wellbeing, and social impact. It exists to create space for understanding, connection, and action — from individual experiences to communities, organisations, and the wider society we are part of.
Founded in 2022, Equality Inc. emerged from a simple but demanding insight: lasting change does not grow from surface-level actions, isolated interventions, or symbolic commitments. It grows through dialogue, accountability, and lived experience — translated into everyday practices, leadership, relationships, and structures.
Rather than operating as a traditional organisation, Equality Inc. functions as a shared platform: a place where experience, expertise, and practice meet. It supports individuals, communities, and organisations in deepening their understanding and turning that understanding into meaningful, lasting change.
Equality Inc. is led by its founder, Aaro Horsma. The work spans one-to-one support, trainings, consultancy, and end-to-end project work, and is carried out in collaboration with a broad network of independent experts who contribute specialised knowledge, perspective, and skills to different initiatives.
AARO HORSMA, Founder
Aaro Horsma (he/they) is an expert in equality and wellbeing, working at the intersection of individual support, community development, and structural change. Their work combines counselling, consulting, training, and advocacy rooted in social justice, with a strong focus on how wellbeing, equality, and belonging are experienced in everyday life.
Aaro’s education and professional training span cognitive brief therapy (CBT), community mediation, sex education, social services, and journalism. This multidisciplinary foundation enables work that connects emotional and relational experience with societal structures and practical change-making.
Over the past decade, Aaro led Helsinki Pride Community, where they were responsible for developing and piloting inclusive social and youth work, designing services responding to the needs of LGBTQIA+ communities, and leading organisational services, partnerships, and advocacy work with NGOs, municipalities, government agencies, and private sector organisations. This included building sustainable service models, strengthening peer-based support structures, and advancing equality and human rights at both community and policy levels.
Alongside leadership and development roles, Aaro has continuously worked at the individual level, offering counselling and one-to-one support for people navigating identity, relationships, trauma, loneliness, and life transitions. This ongoing individual work grounds broader organisational and societal efforts in lived experience, ensuring that strategies, trainings, and services remain connected to real human needs.
Driven by people and their stories, Aaro fosters meaningful connection, clarity, and hope. Their work bridges personal wellbeing and structural change, grounded in the understanding that lasting impact emerges when people feel seen, safe, and able to influence their own lives and environments.
Aaro believes that understanding diverse experiences enables the most meaningful impact:
“We can change — and value the most — what we are able to truly understand.”
NETWORK & COLLABORATORS
Equality Inc. functions as a connective space for independent experts and practitioners working at the intersections of equality, wellbeing, and social change. Its purpose is not to centralise expertise, but to enable meaningful collaboration — creating meeting points where insight, experience, and practice can be shared, developed, and translated into collective work.
This network-based approach allows Equality Inc. to bring together the right expertise for each project: sometimes through close collaboration, sometimes through parallel or independent contributions. Work may take place internally between experts, or externally in partnership with clients, communities, and organisations.
Through this network, Equality Inc. supports collaboration grounded in trust, shared values, and professional autonomy — remaining flexible, responsive, and purpose-driven rather than bound by rigid structures.
Network of Experts
During Equality Inc.’s early phase, strategic input and reflection were supported by an advisory group — a network of trusted independent experts including Maryan Abdulkarim, Miriam Attias, Hassen Hnini, Juha Kilpiä, and Satu Lekola.
Together, this group helped shape Equality Inc.’s identity, purpose, and value base, grounding the work in community, accountability, and open dialogue. While the group does not operate as a standing or formal board, its members remain part of Equality Inc.’s broader expert network and may be engaged for consultation, insight, or collaboration when relevant.
As the people, contexts, and communities Equality Inc. works with evolve over time, so does the network — continuously learning, refining perspectives, and deepening collective impact.
MARYAN ABDULKARIM, Collaborating Consultant
Maryan Abdulkarim (she/her) is an award-winning journalist and social commentator with deep expertise in equality, non-discrimination, and social security, alongside academic insight in sociology. She has lectured on Equality and Non-Discrimination at Oulu University of Applied Sciences and holds a degree in social services.
Maryan is currently a master’s student at the University of Helsinki and has received multiple recognitions, including Kristina of the Year (University of Helsinki Gender Research Institute) and the Minna Canth Award.
She works as a close and trusted independent expert within Equality Inc.’s core network and has collaborated with Aaro both jointly and independently through Equality Inc. projects. Her work is characterised by clarity, depth, and a strong commitment to social justice and public dialogue.
Maryan is available to contribute to Equality Inc.’s projects or to lead independent trainings and initiatives — either in collaboration with Aaro Horsma or as a standalone expert.