Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Elma Bašić
Burçak Günsev graduated from Visual Communication Design at Istanbul Bilgi University.
In 2006, Burçak Günsev founded an agency and called it Wanda Digital which joined forces with Ogilvy Istanbul in July this year.
At the next Golden Drum Festival that will take place in Portorož on 17 – 18 of October, Burçak will talk about women leadership trying to break glass ceilings.
MM: Your contribution in the area of gender equality is a great one. How successful are you in being an inspirational role model to women leadership in your country and do you have any feedback on your influence in other (at least surrounding) countries?
Burçak Günsev: In being a woman, difficulties come with the territory. But, in order to inspire women around me, firstly I keep a positive mentality. When I do business, I have a filter in my mind, which hinders me from focusing on the gender of the people I work with. I think it sets a good example for how to think and act beyond these differences. I’m not talking about denying our differences, but I think for the sake of equality, the best attitude is to see what’s beyond genders. And I think beyond each gender, you can find the true personality of the person you are working with. I believe this attitude is key for equality in both my country and the surrounding countries. Even though our environment has an effect on the way we act and think, but going beyond genders in our communication can enable us to be on the same level independently of any gender roles.
MM: What do you do personally and professionally to empower women to fight for a better position in the world? How does your husband support your efforts?
Burçak Günsev: I don’t think anyone should ‘fight’ for a better position. A better position comes after hard work, good networking and professionality. In order to encourage women, what I do is helping them to discover their potential. Once women are free of the norms that gender roles dictate, the ones who can use their potential can win any position in anywhere. I am aware that there are many social norms that discourage and discriminate women, and I believe the solution is to complete our personal development and become free as a person, rather than wasting our energy on fighting aggressively. Once many women in any society have the power of mental freedom, the rest of the business about equality will come within time.
My husband shares my ideals in this issue. Therefore, we naturally support each other in this issue. It is not because I’m a woman in need of support from a man, but because as life partners our goals and mentality are parallel to one another, and he appreciates the independence of my character and my ideas.
MM: “Did you know that there was a ceiling when you were a small kid?” is a question which you will ask on the Golden Drum Festival. Do you hope to get the answers you expect to hear? To what extent can we fight our tradition?
Burçak Günsev: I believe even if people don’t know this term, they will realize it’s a concept that we all experienced at some point in our lives. My awakening about the glass ceiling took place in my childhood. In my family, it was my mother who took care of cooking and cleaning. It was me who wore pink clothes and played with baby dolls while the boys around me had blue clothes to wear and guns to play with. Then one day, my mother presented me a blue dress that I was crazy for. I wore it almost everyday until it got tattered. Today I realize the blue dress made me realize the glass ceiling, which proved me that my favorite dress didn’t have to be in pink color; and blue color wasn’t only for boys to wear. Today, what we can do is to show our children that there is still a glass ceiling up there. Just an awareness may seem like a small step. But it’s the small steps that change our ideas. And our ideas change the world we live in.