“I didn’t know what advertising was at all … this world was not mine. You see on TV that there’s ads, but you don’t think there’s actually agencies … it wasn’t my world at all – I couldn’t think of a path to go there.”

Safa Boughida’s experience of uncovering the world of advertising is not uncommon. For an industry that constantly intrudes on our daily experiences, the day-to-day workings of it can be infuriatingly opaque. It’s an environment that is broadly supportive to creativity, where designers, copywriters and artists can make money, and yet, despite its numerous attempts at outreach, it remains inaccessible to many.

Boughida, who is French-Algerian, eventually discovered the industry via an unexpected route. “I was really, really, really in love with tennis,” she says. “I was playing tennis since I was, like, four years old. This was also my kind of escape zone, because I wasn’t really allowed to go out with my friends. I wasn’t allowed to do a lot of things outside of my home. So I put all my energy into tennis, and I was really involved in my club, in all the things that happened there.”