Nihan Yildiz Oren

Born in Turkey in 1981; Nihan considers herself "a citizen of the world". Her parents were both teachers. Being only child did not make her sassy since she grew up alone. She began Elementary School in Istanbul where she was an over-social, hardworking and almost a nerdy student. "I remember founding a Society for Environment without the permission of my teachers. I don't have that much self-confidence even now!" she recalls, laughing. She was selected to attend Istanbul Primary Schools Competition to represent the school and she became the third. At Burak Bora Anatolian High School, she played volleyball for 5,5 years for the school team. When she was captain, her team was 4th in Istanbul Volleyball Championship. At the middle high school she was making ceramics, taking guitar lessons, learning German and swimming. Don't call her fickle because, she always felt passion for learning and for arts. While she was studying Economics at Marmara University, she began working as a Sales Rep. at Swissotel. She was one the best salespeople in the company. After continuing for 6 months part-time, she decided to concentrate on her classes. She also worked as a trainee at Alarko and GAP Textile. After graduation, she went to Italy for a voluntary project about arts. Afterwards, she was invited to work for two companies. Since she understood that she was fascinated by marketing, she began working as a Marketing Specialist at Toys"R"Us, while she was continuing Marketing & PR Course at ISTA Academy. She left Toys"R"Us after a 2 year tenure, when the firm had to withdraw from country. She learnt retail and B2C and accomplished a CRM project here. Then, she worked as a Senior Marketing Executive for almost 5 years at Watsons. She managed marketing department here and won three awards including PR, best product launch and best social responsibility awards, with her successful projects. While working, she also took her master's degree from Galatasaray University, Marketing Communications Management. Since her passion about design was unstoppable, she went to Milan to attend a program about Luxury Marketing & Footwear Design in 2010 for five months. When she returned, she continued her job as she promised, but after a while, she could not stop her entrepreneurship instincts. She found out that there are no Italian design schools in Turkey and decided to bring a franchisee of the school she attended. She worked so hard on this project and combined her marketing and retail experiences in this school. Despite having exclusive agreement with Italy, due to the funding issues, the deal was not realized. She was so positive and content, since she acted proactive, had such a huge experience and gained commercial skills. At that times, she was given an offer from Hafele. She worked as a Marketing Manager, managing 360 degrees of marketing. 11 people were reporting to her and she also had the chance to experience B2B, after several years in B2C sector. She also managed a creative agency, PR and advertising in-house. She launched a successful ticketing system and a prospering social media project here. She lives in Istanbul and speaks Turkish, English, Italian and ein bisschen German. For over 3 years, acting as an Independent Marketing Consultant, she is working with start-up brands, who needs assistance on building marketing, digital and PR strategies, What she wants is, to work in a happy environment in an open-minded firm, that she can contribute with her experiences, but also challenge herself with new projects and learnings. Though she is experienced in retail, cosmetics, B2C, and some B2B and FMCG, she believes she can make difference in any sector, since she has been living in marketing for 14 years. She will continue to help start-ups, unless she finds the perfect opportunity for herself. She is a creative, passionate and natural communicator. She is taking ceramics lessons, designing handbags and learning more about well-being just for herself. She loves to research, write, travel, sail and meet new people, cultures and countries. She always stays positive and it is this positivity that will continue to motivate her through her life.