A collaboration of Yabangee and ATÖLYE – we proudly continue with a new, exciting season of Expat Spotlight – a monthly series showcasing the freshest, most inspiring contributions being made by Istanbul’s diverse international community to the city’s cultural, sporting, humanitarian, and business spheres. An opportunity to share moving stories, reflect on personal experiences and participate in a resourceful dialogue, we invite foreigners and locals alike to come and embolden others.
Taking place in English, the latest season of Expat Spotlight kicks off on Monday 30 September with the theme of “entrepreneurship”.
The event starts at 19:30, with doors set to open at 19:00. No need to RSVP to join. As always, refreshments are provided.
Master of Ceremonies:
Jennifer Hattam is a freelance journalist from San Francisco who has been living in Istanbul since 2008. She writes about environmental, social, and urban issues, as well as art, culture, food, and travel for publications including CityLab, Culinary Backstreets, Deutsche Welle, Discover, Hyperallergic, Lonely Planet, and The Washington Post.
Guest speakers:
Sean Yu is a co-founder and CEO of Paraşüt, the leading SaaS bookkeeping software in Turkey with over 12k customers. Previously, Sean was a research fellow at Endeavor, an NGO whose goal is to create startup ecosystems as economic growth engines, in its Istanbul office. Sean began his career in the United States, having worked in private equity at Gryphon Investors in San Francisco, and in investment banking at Lehman Brothers in New York. Sean holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University.
Jennifer Gaudet, a Canadian-Turk resident of Istanbul for the last fourteen years, has owned and operated two hugely popular and successful businesses in the city. From 2006 to 2009 she ran Java Studio, a much-loved café and art gallery in the tourist hub of Sultanahmet before opening Jennifer’s Hamam, the world’s foremost supplier of hand-woven Turkish towels, pestamels, blankets, scarves and other items in 2009. The sole source of traditional textiles created by some of Turkey’s last remaining hand-weavers, the company puts its heart and soul into sustaining and promoting their beautiful handiwork to a happy client base now spanning five continents.
Beau Higgins is a 26 year resident of Istanbul and an over 20-year advertising industry veteran whose marketing communications skillset encompasses creative, strategy, media and new business. Over the course of his career, he has built his agency Wordsmith from a start-up creative shop into a full-service agency and member of the AMIN Worldwide Network serving clients including Caterpillar, Decathlon, C&A, Emaar Properties and Accor Hotels. Based in Turkey and active across markets stretching from the Caucasus to North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the agency is focused on harnessing the synergies of digital and traditional media to attract and engage culturally diverse audiences across a range of platforms. Beau’s hands-on approach and the agency’s roll-your-own culture mean that they develop tailormade solutions for brands using in-house digital development, social media strategy, content and video production and media buying resources. In addition to serving as president of Wordsmith Advertising, Beau has been an AMIN Worldwide EMEA Region Board Member and co-chairs the AMIN Worldwide Communications Committee. He and two partners are currently launching a machine learning driven start up in the location-based marketing space.
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For more information, be sure and check out the official Facebook page.
