Selen Okay Akçalı is a board counselor, gender equality ambassador and angel investor. She’s graduated from the Industrial Engineering Department of the Yıldız Technical University in 2003. She started her career in 2004 as a marketing specialist for Koçtaş DIY Stores and later joined the Trade Marketing team at Turkcell in 2007. Between 2013-2015 she worked as Head of Category Management at the retail sales unit; responsible for line, device and data products. After 12 years of experience in the private sector, she became concerned about the workplace gender equality and started to consider the role of women in the workplace in the modern age, she started to work as a project consultant for the Turkish branch of the Women on Board Initiative. At the beginning of 2017, she took a leading role in transitioning the initiative into a proper association. She became one of the founding board members of Women on Boards Turkey Association (WOB Turkey) and worked as the Secretary-General and the Executive Director of the association between 2017-2022. She’s coordinated with the European Union project of WOB Turkey to increase the capacity of the association. This civil society grant program was co-funded by the EU and Republic of Turkey. She is the founding partner of Agenti, a flexible HR start-up aiming to increase employment in the youth of Turkey. She is Board Member of Forum Istanbul Institute, Advisory Board Member of Marmara University Women Research Center, Member of ARYA Women Investment Platform and Board member of SES Association. She’s the Board Chair of Yanındayız Association. She is married and a mother of two girls aged 11 and 6.