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. aims to function 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 platform for people, independent experts, activists, and practitioners working at the intersections of equality, wellbeing, and social change.
Its purpose is not to centralise expertise, but to enable collaboration — creating spaces where experience, understanding, and practice can meet and be translated into shared direction and meaningful action.
This network-based approach makes it possible to bring together the right expertise for each context and project. Collaboration may take the form of close joint work, parallel contributions, or independent inputs, depending on the needs of the situation, the people involved, and available resources.
Through this approach, Equality Inc. supports collaboration grounded in trust, shared values, and professional autonomy. The work evolves over time — learning, adapting, and deepening its collective impact through connection and experience.
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.