Our History: Letter from the Founder, Melek Pulatkonak 

Welcome to TurkishWIN! 

My dream is to empower YOU to build a  legacy in supporting the next generation of rising female leaders in Turkey. If you did it, so can she! 

I  also crave to meet like-minded women with the same passion and drive to excel in  life and work with global mobility and ambitions.

I felt very lonely as an aspiring leader while changing countries, industries and jobs. When I embarked on my finance career at the New York Stock Exchange, women in finance were working on their golf handicap in social networking events, wearing their hair short, entertaining clients with their male colleagues in strip clubs,  and had stay-at-home husbands (allow me some exaggeration please). I struggled with my decision to leave the sector after 4 years in different positions. 

When I was the COO of hakia.com, you could count the number of women in industry events and  in leadership positions in the technology industry. I have learned my lessons and navigated career twists and turns on my own as my family did not come from these industries or backgrounds. My parents have no university education but I fought hard to graduate from the Austrian St, Georg’s Kolleg, the London School of Economics and Columbia Business School.  Needless to say,  I had to seek  and find different mentors in different periods of my life. 

All that time, I ached to share what I discovered. I believed I have experiences to share but could not find a younger woman at similar decision forks:-)  This search was not an easy one as I moved across countries, positions and life stages.

So I decided to do something about my dream to build a network of women like me who want to excel in their lifemap and build a legacy by sharing wisdom, mistakes and networks with our younger versions. 

Realizing this dream is manifesting- every day-  in developing systems, digital platforms and content curation to ensure that we can all find a giveback opportunity that makes our heart sing as we grow and learn with a sisterhood of like-minded women with open hearts and open-minds. 

TurkishWIN was founded  in 2010 in New York and has since grown significantly.  With the support of our community leaders, we have 18 micro communities  in different countries. We have reached more than 1M million people around the world with our stories of inspiration and our message, “If I did it, so can you!.”  We understand your curiosity for your career or life choices and your passion to build a legacy in contributing to a gender equal future. 

If you are interested in our movement, the way we operate as the TurkishWIN team, then check out our blog or subscribe to our newsletter. We share our experience, celebrations and stories.

If you are looking for a community of women- women like you-  who learn and give back together, we are your new tribe! Drop our team a note and let’s have a chat!  I am sure you will find your membership investment worth your while.

Yours sincerely,
Melek Pulatkonak 
Founder of TurkishWIN