Meet TurkishWINner: Gamze Gurbuzatik

Gamze Gurbuzatik is the Group Director at Fjord Frankfurt and one of our chapter leads in Germany.  

Gamze joined Fjord Istanbul in 2016 as a Program Director before quickly moving on to the role of Group Director. She recently relocated to lead fjord Frankfurt in June 2019.

To Fjord, she brings over 15 years of digital experience, during which she spent time in Seattle working across countries, selling and delivering digital transformational projects for clients such as Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Dell Computers, DLP Texas Instruments, T-Mobile and McDonalds.  In 2011, she returned to Turkey where, as the Client Services Director for Tribal DDB, she led award-winning campaigns for clients such as Pepsico, Vodafone, and Unilever. 

She also holds a Master of Arts in International Studies from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree from Bilkent University Political Science and Public Administration. Her education and her accumulated experience in diverse clients/projects prepared her current role in Fjord. She believes in the importance of research and data while also looking at each project from a wider angle.  Her background enables her to enrich interpretation in every project she delivers, from product to service design.

As a big believer in the power of harmonious teams, Gamze’s first priority is to bring out the best in every team member and create a HolistiC and dynamic working environment.

Now, let's get to know this WINner with what does not meet the eye!

What do you do for a living? Tell us more about you. 

I am Group Director for Fjord Frankfurt/Accenture Interactive. Merging business and design, I lead design teams to solve complex problems through human-centric design methodologies, in order to bring impactful services and products to life for our clients.

What's the best piece of advice you've received?

Not received but rather taken…”Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony” M. Gandhi

Dark chocolate or milk chocolate

Definitely dark chocolate. Even better with Cayenne Pepper.

One thing you wish you had known earlier in your career

I wish I understood the importance of work and life balance earlier in my career. Also looking into ourselves as a whole, the importance of nutrition, exercise, meditation and need to recharge in nature, how this overall impacts your performance.

If you could have any three people (dead or alive) over for dinner – who would they be?

This list changes constantly, but at this very moment, I would say: Jane Goodall, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Name a book you read that positively shaped you.

Cevat Sakir Kabaagacli-Halikarnas Balikcisi „Mavi Surgun“

You believe in the sisterhood at work because… 

Because I have seen how beautifully it impacts each other to unleash our full potential. We also have years of work to overcome the “unconscious bias” about female roles. We can only do this, if we support and uplift one another and change the language in stories in history looking at the and be persistent on equality on all fronts, as just like Virginia Woolf said: “ For most of history, Anonymous was a woman”.

Who are your role models? 

My grandmother, my mother, my sister, my childhood friends Burcu and Sibel, but also many strong women I work with on a daily basis.

If you had one superpower, what would it be?

This is a hard one. Probably it would be an endless capacity to learn any subject with a very short time. To be able to freeze time every now and then to read and learn more.

Last book you read or are reading now 

Bitkilerin Bildikleri: Daniel Chamowitz

You have a car trip from İstanbul to Bodrum. Choose a famous person to join you and tell us why! 

That would be Gunduz Vassaf, as I recently listened to a podcast (Nasil Olunur by Nilay Ornek) and found him incredibly delightful to learn so much from.