ALUMNI
NEWS
Melis Ónqün RC 98
After receiving her B.A. in Politics
and International Relations from
the University of Warwick, Melis
decided she missed her fellow RC
98 grads in the U.S. and m o v e d to
NYC.
A short work placement at
S a a t c h i ' s proved that advertising
was her gig. She began her
advertising career at Young &
R u b i c a m Brands as a graduate
trainee in April 2 0 0 2 in N Y C .
She worked on a range of
clients, s u c h as AT&T and
Pfizer, developing their
c u s t o m e r relationship
marketing programs. More
recently Melis was appointed
A c c o u n t Director, continuing
to build the Microsoft team
after Y R B won the global
account in early 2 0 0 4 and
working on the worldwide
launch of S Q L S e r v e r 2 0 0 5 .
She m o v e d to L o n d o n in May
2 0 0 6 and has been helping
out with the BT account at
Ogilvy. Her focus is
increasingly b e c o m i n g digital
advertising and she is now moving
on to start a new position at Dare
Digital in a couple of weeks time.
She enjoys practicing yoga in her
free time and travelling extensively
in Europe now that she's back.
Erenşah Biçen & Orhan Ayanlar RC 96
RC 96 s w e e t h e a r t s O r h a n Ayanlar and Erenşah Biçen finally got married on
S e p t e m b e r 9 t h after their long journey -they were only sixth graders when it all
s t a r t e d ! The fairytale-like wedding took place in B o d r u m , at the Ayanlar family
house on the hills of Yalıkavak. The party started at 5 : 0 0 pm and went on until the
sunrise. The guests danced for ten hours non-stop! The bride has been living in
L o n d o n , working at JP M o r g a n following her graduation from Koç University. The
g r o o m , who graduated from Boston University, m o v e d to Istanbul in D e c e m b e r
2 0 0 2 after working in NY for several years. They have never lived in the s a m e city
since graduating from RC, so this marriage will be quite a change for the
newlyweds who are now to decide where to live and work. This time, together...
Eda Yıldırım Büyükkayalı RC 95 and
Olgay Baki Büyükkayalı RC 96
Eda c o m p l e t e d her undergraduate degree at the Istanbul
University Faculty of Law and worked for the S o m a y Law
Firm for nearly three years before she went to L o n d o n for
an M S C in Law and A c c o u n t i n g at the L o n d o n S c h o o l of
E c o n o m i c s . She c a m e back to Istanbul in late 2 0 0 3 and has
been working for the Hergüner Bilgen Özeke law firm since
then. Olgay, who received both his undergraduate and
graduate d e g r e e s from Boğaziçi University, worked for
Citigroup in istanbul as a strategist from his s e n i o r year in
college until 2 0 0 6 . He then m o v e d to L o n d o n to work at A B N A m r o , and is now
a trader at L e h m a n Brothers in L o n d o n .
In the meantime, Eda and Olgay got married in A u g u s t 2 0 0 5 and have moved
to L o n d o n where Olgay's new job is located. Eda has been traveling back and
forth as she continues her work in istanbul.
Onur Zilberman RC 00
Onur studied Media Studies at Bilgi University and graduated in M a r c h , meanwhile he has
been working in several media a g e n c i e s . After having studied media in college and getting
work experience, he says that working in media for 6 months equaled his 4 years of
s c h o o l i n g . As all the guys have to think about and allocate time for while making future plans,
Onur is starting his military service in December. With this in mind, he decided to take the
s u m m e r off, and attended big music festivals across Europe. To give an idea about the size
and lineup of E u r o p e a n festivals, Onur saw the Who, Muse, Slgur Ros, Editors, Red Hot Chili
Peppers, Calexico, Manu Chao, Black Eyed Peas, Franz Ferdinand, Ben Harper, Live, Starsailor,
Sean Paul, Kanye West, Clap Your H a n d s Say Yeah, and Elbow, a m o n g many other groups in
the R o c k w e r c h t e r Festival in B e l g i u m . A n o t h e r festival in B e n i c a s s i m , Spain took place on the
beach and featured many other famous groups and D J s .
Lalin Anik RC 02
Lalin writes: "I graduated with a B.A. degree in psychology with high honors from Brandeis
University in 2 0 0 6 . This fall, I will be starting my doctorate studies in business administration,
specifically marketing, at Harvard Business S c h o o l . I decided to continue with school rather than
joining the work force, as I have grand thirst for learning, and researching.
My curiosity to explore career passions dates back to high school years at RC, when I worked as a
research lab assistant both at Brandeis University and Duke University Marine Lab for two s u m m e r s .
Throughout those s u m m e r s , I figured out what I did not want to do more than what I felt really
excited about. I realized that my childhood dream of a life in the ocean with marine mammals would
stay as an expanded hobby but I would seek ways in behavioral research. With a sudden jump from
marine biology to psychology, I sought opportunities to get involved in lab research. As a freshman, I
got involved in the eye tracking research in relation to cognition and emotion at adulthood and old
age and continued for 4 years. In the last year, I combined eye tracking technology at the Brandeis
University Psychology Department Emotion Lab with marketing and wrote my honors thesis titled
"Assessing Attention to, Preference and M e m o r y of Advertisements with Differing Emotional
Valences." I also worked at the Sleep Hospital of Brown University Medical School during the
s u m m e r of my freshman year. Yet, the turning point in my life was at London Business School,
where I worked as a research lab assistant for Professor Tavassoli in the marketing department,
looking at consumer behavior patterns. I was responsible for the first behavior lab in the history of
L B S , and the planning, recruiting and running of the experiments therein. I followed my excitement
in the applications of psychology in the business field through my experiences at Fenerium in
relation to sports retail business and customer satisfaction during the s u m m e r before my senior
year. I also interned at international advertising agencies such as McCann Erickson and Arnold in the
past year. Exposure to possibilities in different branches provided me with a wider horizon and more
clear vision of the future direction, which I want to pursue.
My senior year at Brandeis University was also important as I celebrated my 15th year in
swimming, a life long passion that I started as a 7 year-old in Istanbul, followed in the National and
International area as a m e m b e r of the Turkish National Team and continued in the States with over
fifteen records. As a senior at Brandeis University, I was awarded the Linsey Athletic Fellowship,
which is a scholarship given to one student for top level accomplishments both in academics and
athletics. It has always been very essential for me to balance swimming with academics, and I can
now smile when I think about waking up at 4 am twice a week all throughout my life at Robert
College and university. My aim is to continue swimming at Harvard, but also pass down my
experience as a coach, which has fulfilled me as I have been working with young swimmers between
ages three and thirteen since 2 0 0 2 .
I will be delighted to talk to and help any Robert College family m e m b e r as much as I can as the
advice and directions of older RC graduates have assisted me incredibly. Contact info:
lanik@hbs.edu."
Salim Sağlam RC 03
Being an actor and a favorite of former faculty m e m b e r and director L a r r y Roetzel, Salim's face was familiar to the
RC community. He starred as the passionate lover Ferdinand in Shakespeare's The Tempest, a y o u n g neighbor and a
king in Nasreddin Hoca, a cowboy in The Majestic Kid, a m o n g many other roles. He is a s e n i o r in Middlebury College,
majoring in theater and e c o n o m i c s . He works in the scene shop of the theater d e p a r t m e n t , building sets for the
u p c o m i n g student p e r f o r m a n c e s . His latest skills involve a l u m i n u m and steel welding. Over the s u m m e r he had an
internship in Kabul, A f g h a n i s t a n , working as an assistant financial consultant for tax reform in the A f g h a n treasury. He
is also a French minor, and went to France as an exchange student, but due to student protests in France, his s c h o o l did
not open for 10 weeks, and he spent those weeks, as he calls it, "attending the school of life." He does not know what he
is going to do after college, but life waits around the bend for this determined and creative man to come a l o n g .
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