Aliya started to figure out her career journey at an early age. She had dabbled in graphic design, marketing, and even patisserie, before deciding to pursue the fast-paced industry of advertising when she joined Middlesex University, Dubai.

“Occasionally pushing yourself out of your comfort zone,” she says, is the key to growth. Trying to enter and excel as an introvert in an industry that cannot stop talking can be quite tricky and overwhelming. But she slowly learned how to use her introvert qualities to her advantage and achieve success on her own terms.

Aliya’s desire to continually learn has helped open doors in her work. She thinks, as a student, it is essential to keep your eyes peeled for any opportunities that may help you learn more about the work that you plan to do, your industry, or the people you will be working with within that industry. She first heard about Dubai Lynx, an influential advertising and creative festival, in 2017 through a professor during her first year in university. “My advertising professor had a few passes to give to her students, and I missed the email and thought I had missed out on that opportunity. I still really wanted to go so I emailed her and asked if there was any way I could be involved with the festival. Luckily, she had a connection at the event and offered me an intern position for the two days of the festival,” she recalls. During her time working at Dubai Lynx, she had the opportunity to sit in on pitching sessions, talks, and the awards night, where the best of the industry are awarded for their work that year. Aliya recounts, “I think that was the night I truly fell in love with the advertising industry. Seeing the culture my industry had created was like seeing and appreciating art when it’s crafted”. After that experience, Aliya decided to enter  Dubai Lynx’s student competition and was shortlisted at the 2018 and 2019 awards.

“If you figure out how to have confidence in the work that you produce, it is a good thing. But if you’re lucky enough to have a few people you can trust and who guide you, that is probably the greatest thing that can happen,” she shares. She believes having a mentor or two is very important. A mentor doesn’t have to be someone from your industry who is in a higher position than you. It can be someone whose opinion you trust enough to help you navigate through your life.