Our team
We Are NAMAARI
Namaari is home to a small global team from diverse backgrounds. We scout, hire, and develop those that – despite their talent and education – are often taken advantage or overlooked. Our allegiance with women & mothers, those who have excellent backgrounds but not have the equal opportunity and fair pay in the economies they live in and people at higher risk simply due to cultural status is a founding principle at Namaari. We embrace diversity and equity across all lines. Likewise, we partner with grassroots nonprofit agencies like @pastamizicocuklaruflesin that embrace these principles to raise funds that create meaningful impact at the local level. We are honored to also consider these partners part of our Namaari team.
Sinem Suder
Founder
For nearly a decade, I worked around the world on the hunt for beautiful textiles and fibers. From China to Indonesia, North America to Europe, and India to Turkey. During these years, I've met with some of the most valuable, wonderful people in this industry.
All through out my professional life, I felt that something was lacking, missing; meaning and fulfillment. My passion and so my drive has always come from helping people, elevating them, standing up against an unfair situation, inequality. I am not to be known that can look the other way and keep quiet against unfairness especially when its done to others.
So you see, I had to re-find and realign my energy, my experience into creating something meaningful through our products by carefully choosing our producers who share the same values with happy and fairly paid employees and build a community to gather people who are likeminded, selfless, altruistic, who support and stand up against injustice for others.
Thus we can all share this beautiful sentiment of creating and contributing to happy people trail from start to finish of this supply chain. To do that I couldn't have found a better community than the makers community to come together and let this meaning, this movement bloom.
While I whole heartedly believe bringing you sustainable, eco friendly products, I reject to use it to be a part of the recycled marketing trend instead I choose to quietly follow "green" buying guidelines. In the end what good is a healthy, green filled, beautiful oxygen filled world without the very good people in it.
“Remember, there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” —Scott Adams
SEDA İKIZOĞLU
Visual Brand strategist
A brand strategist by nature meets with creative photographer.
Seda is, aside from her bubbly and energetic personality that is infectious has a passion for bringing women owned start ups to success.
After getting her B.S. degree in Economics, Seda made her family proud but with her creative nature she knew at her heart what she was set out to do so she went to Italy and got her Art Degree in Interior Design.
Her creative and professional journey now continues with her passion about his son as a mother. So if you don’t see Seda shooting with her camera most of her days, you can find her and her son practicing on vocals and cords in front of a piano as her son is getting ready to enter national exams to Istanbul Conservatory.
As they say “apple doesn’t fall far from its tree.”
FULYA GENC
DESIGNER & MAKER
"There are not enough words in my vocabulary to describe Fulya’s kindness, humbleness and down to earth personality, her strength, her beautiful and unique eye to originality and harmony.
There can be storms going off in her heart but you will find Fulya with the kindest smile on her face still asking to help you. It is my great destiny, honor and my complete lucky charm to have met with her.
She is Fulya Genc. She got her degree in Economics and after working for a few years in pharmaceutical sales, she was pregnant to her now 4 year old boy Kemal Efe who has become her utmost passion and so she quit her job and started to do macrame during nights.
She has an incredible eye for color harmony and design. Her husband whom stood by her side and supported her all the way for her newborn passion as a maker, it deeply saddens me to say that she lost her husband to Covid in January of 2022 and is now going through this journey as a single mother.
Fulya is by far the most magical human being you can encounter. Her will and strength, her optimism and balance, her tranquility and inner beauty is what Namaari is all about!"
Yusuf Gungor
Website & SEO Optimization Designer
I'm the type of person who likes to fall asleep while coding instead of watching a movie or reading a book. While waking up from those long nights of coding is not easy and every bit of my body is fighting to go back to sleep, knowing its a new bright day with coding and unlimited discoveries to possibilities is what truly gives me joy. I am a true “tech geek” . You talk about electronics, computer and optimization, I’m basically in heaven!
Aside from anything tech related I truly enjoy nature especially camping in nature, I love hiking especially where there are fall, watching beautiful sceneries of Bosphorus bridge, as well as swimming in the Mediterranean.
I graduated from Istanbul Yeditepe University with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Computer Engineering. I've been coding for about 6 years now and I still think or at least hope I have a healthy functioning brain! :-)
This previous piece is solely from Yusuf, however there are things that I feel that needs to be added about him.
Yusuf is an incredible son who is supportive to his dad’s business who owns a photography studio so whenever he is not coding or not in school you can find him at his dad’s studio helping him speed things up with editing and keeping things in track for business.
He is gentle and kind. Compared to his educational background and technical knowledge he is another gem to have the most modest and sensible personality. He has put up my distinct talent for my disorganization with a smile and never made a point when I couldn’t meet with deadlines. He has done some very repetitive and rudimentary work with the same enthusiastic spirit. So he is all that he says and much much more. I’m once again so lucky to have met him and to have him part of this company.
