Post by Merve Nazlioglu

At a small Italian cafe in the heart of İstanbul on a rainy Sunday morning… I carefully placed my bag built from an antique phone on the table and ordered a cup of filter coffee. Sipping it away, I did not know what to expect. I was waiting for my interview with Hande Cilingir, the Co-founder and CEO of Insider. At the time, Insider was a small startup in the midst of an industrial area and had 30 firm believers and underdogs working from an old Yoga studio. A tall woman wearing pink sports tights with her hair tied up in a ponytail arrived. She dropped her bag on the chair, quickly saluted me and my phone bag, and asked for a pen and some napkins from the waitress. She started drawing and explaining why Insider exists. Quickly I came to realize that there was something different, something bolder going on in that humble Yoga studio. She quickly captured my entire being. Her story was one that I was yearning to hear for all these years. One thing she mentioned really stayed with me: Merve, we are not in it solely to create a successful technology company from this part of the world. We are in it to create a bigger impact and to lead by example. We are in it to dare go where others will not. We are in it to build as if our lives depend on it #forourcountry #forourpeople. And to date, amongst the list of hashtags and wall installations across our 28 offices around the world, these hashtags stand out. Hande continued drawing viciously on the napkin, tearing it at times with the tip of the pen (I figured out later on the journey that Hande was a true “Wartime CEO” after reading Andresen Horowitz’ book Hard Thing About Hard Things and his iconic text “The Struggle” — which is the phone background for many at Insider :) She said one day we’ll unite all technology companies and their leaders under one roof to expand our Young Engineers Program wherever we go. Our engineers volunteered their evenings and weekends to successfully graduate 300 students from this program where 70% of coding students are female. Today, in Sydney, in Thailand, in Benelux, in France, in the USA… in 28 regions across 5 continents, we have people from 41 different nationalities and 70% of the executive leadership team including our CEO, CFO, CMO, CHRO, and COO are incredible women. This reminds me Hande’s legendary fireside chat with President Barack Obama at #RESHAPE21. I still remember my deep sigh of relief in the studio when Hande greeted Mr. President after months of preparations. I remember saying, what a journey… President Barack Obama underlined one important message — Companies that have a strong number of women on their boards do better in the stock market, and they are more effective. Period. Today marks an important milestone for me as one of the women leaders at Insider. I am very proud of #shemarkables. — one of the boldest women-led movements in the world of CX. Read more in the article below. Save your seat: https://bit.ly/3Gede4j