The story behind the vision.

The athlete

Aayan was recruited to play Division I soccer at Alabama A&M University on a full athletic scholarship, where he played alongside U.S. National Team players such as Jean Harbor and athletes from around the world. He made the Dean’s List and graduated with a degree in Telecommunications and Computer Science. The field taught him what would carry him through every chapter that followed: discipline, teamwork, and the will to keep going when the game turns against you.

The entrepreneur

Aayan went on to found Nubian Nails, the first Black-owned nail salon in Brooklyn with an Asian nail technician team, built in partnership with Chung, an Asian businessman who owned Chinese restaurants in Brooklyn. Together they broke barriers in an industry where few people who looked like Aayan owned the business. A second Nubian Nails store brought together a multicultural team of Black, white, Hispanic and Indian professionals. Across the two stores, Nubian Nails grew to about 30 workers, without taking out a single loan, built with the support of his wife, Joy Jennette. He also founded Pamper Me Quick, a mobile spa salon on wheels that brings salon services directly to clients.

The engineer

Never one to stand still, Aayan worked his way from computer repair technician to certified software engineer. Today he is the founder and CEO of AI Network Agency, building artificial intelligence tools that help small businesses compete, and he serves U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in the Bronx, St. Albans, Montrose and Lyons as a federal contractor. That work gives him a rare view of the technology reshaping our world, and a deep conviction that people must not lose their humanity as machines grow smarter.

The poet

Aayan’s poetry was born in a season of loss and reflection. As a single father, his life changed when he met his wife, Joy Jennette. Joy stood beside him as he built his business, and she helped raise his sons, Jeremiah and Timothy, and later their adopted son, Skylar Jennette. She has returned to Allah, but her legacy still lives on. In the years that followed, he lost his grandmother, his father, his uncles, his brother and his stepson Chris. Aayan describes this time as living in “emergency mode,” and it was there that his purpose became clear.

During the pandemic, that reflection unlocked his gift. At his first performance, he was overcome by stage fright. He came back with resolve, re-entered the competition, and reached the finals of a renowned poetry slam. He has since performed at the Nuyorican Poets Café.

Born Andy Spencer, he took the name Aayan, meaning “the blessed one,” as a tribute to his mother and an acknowledgment of the blessings in his life.

The book

Aayan first wrote Vision Is Clear: Fully Engage, Fully Aware for his son, to guide him through life with faith and truth, and for his sons Timothy, Jeremiah and Skylar and his nephew Teron. As young people heard the work, it grew into something larger: a voice for a generation facing broken families, gang pressure, absent parents, and a world rushing into artificial intelligence.

Across nine chapters, the book moves from spiritual connection and family through self-reflection, the strength of mothers and matriarchs, and the struggles of urban life, to a chapter few poets have written: AI Advancement, a warning and a hope about what it means to stay human in the age of machines.

The mission

Aayan’s mission is to bring clarity to a generation through the power of the spoken word. He believes every person is born with a purpose, and he works to help young people, families and communities discover who they are, and the potential already within them, before the world tells them who to be. Through his performances, his book and his workshop series, Discipline Through the Word, he brings clarity, restores hope and helps people come back to their humanity in an age of artificial intelligence.

Fully engaged. Fully aware.