This year, under the main sponsorship of TÜRGEV, TEDxVefaWomen, which set out with the wish to share the inspiring stories of women from all walks of life in Turkey—academics, artists, and entrepreneurial women—filled with productivity and to multiply effort and courage, took place on December 15, 2019, at the Bağlarbaşı Congress and Culture Center.
This year, under the main sponsorship of TÜRGEV, TEDxVefaWomen, which set out with the wish to share the inspiring stories of women from all walks of life in Turkey, including academics, artists, and entrepreneurial women, filled with productivity, took place on December 15, 2019, at the Bağlarbaşı Congress and Culture Center with the theme "Shine Your Courage."
One of the First "TEDxWomen" Events Held in Turkey
TÜRGEV, which aims to contribute to the visibility of women and girls in social life and strives to support every step taken in this regard, sponsored one of the first events held in Turkey this year under the "Women" title of TEDx, which is an open experience-sharing platform for anyone with "ideas worth sharing" held in many countries around the world, TEDxVefaWomen.
The event, hosted by the Bağlarbaşı Congress and Culture Center, featured speakers who have made valuable contributions in their fields from various parts of Turkey.
Among the speakers were writer-screenwriter-narrator Beyza Akyüz, Hevsel Gardens brand founder Şehadet Çitil, village teacher Derya Çok, mental health consultant Pınar Kobaş Sıçrar, Afşar Bala Women’s Cooperative President Figen Ar, SchoolX Co-Founder Ayşe Seyyide Kaptaner, academic Yaylagül Ceran Karataş, composer, pianist, interior designer Büşra Kayıkçı, Assalam Foundation Co-Founder Nazan Yalçınkaya, art historian Başak Burcu Eke, opera artist Funda Güllü, Usturlab General Manager Sümeyye Ceylan, Biolive Company CEO and President of the Turkish Youth Clubs Confederation Duygu Yılmaz, and Game Studies – OÇA Solidarity Network Volunteer Efruze Esra Alptekin.
The common point of each speech was to reveal the existing courage of women in connection with the main theme of the event and to amplify the beautiful works they do with their words.
"Women Can Heroically Create Inspiring Stories"
Sharing her thoughts on the event inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin's quote, "We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our truth, as human truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains," our Board Chair Dr. Fatmanur Altun said:
"A significant part of our working area consists of girls. Since we are a foundation concerned with the education of girls, we wanted to be part of such an event."
Altun, noting that listening to each other instills courage in all of us, also stated:
"We are children of a world facing serious problems. We are confronted with incredible crises such as massacres and wars, migrations, and refugee crises. We see that women's experiences, perspectives, solutions, and stories are not listened to enough, and that there is no contribution to solving these problems. On the one hand, we witness interesting approaches that say 'women should stay at home, women should not get involved in these matters with their hands in the dough.' We say that women should come with their hands in the dough and share their stories. They should tell us the solutions they find and share their inspiring stories with us. Women can bring very different solutions to problems, they can heroically create different inspiring stories. On the one hand, they manage to do this without taking their hands out of the dough, in harmony with the fabric of life and nature. Today, there are different women and inspiring success stories at this event."
