I was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey. I started attending the Istanbul University in 1999, majoring in American Culture and Literature. Around the same time, I started working out at a local gym in the hope of getting in shape and losing a few pounds, only to discover my real passion; “Bodybuildingâ€. As with most female bodybuilders, who fall upon bodybuilding “accidentallyâ€, I couldn’t deny the way my body responded. And of course, I fell in love with the challenge and the discipline it took to get through the workouts. It took me a few years to actually figure out the training, the diet and everything else in between. In the mean time, I dropped out of college, came to the United States and enrolled in a community college in Tulsa, OK majoring in Physical Education. Once I graduated, I wanted to head back home to give this bodybuilding “adventure†a real shot. In 2005, I did my very first show, which was the Turkish Nationals, a qualifier for the Balkan Championships. (For those of you who wonder, Turkey doesn’t have a national contest that’s a pro qualifier.) I won and was quite overwhelmed by the response I got. Soon afterwards, I was talked into doing another show, which was a qualifier for the European Championships that I also won. Needless to say, I was on the Turkish National team twice and got to bring home a gold medal from the Balkan Championships, where we competed on the very same stage where the weightlifting championships had taken place at the 2004 Olympics. It was a great honor, one that I will most definitely cherish forever.
In the summer of 2005, I moved back to the States. It took me several months to figure out what I wanted to do. In the mean time, I met a couple of female bodybuilders who, without their knowledge, educated me on the subject and made a strong impact on me. To make a really long story short, before the year was over, I started training with the infamous trainer Howard “hHh†Huddleston. And boy, have I come a long ... and I mean LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way !!! lol In September 2007, I got the opportunity to do my first NPC Show, called Total Package where I competed as natural and open lightweight, and took both 1st place and overall. Ironically, this was a local and yet the most important show I had done to date because of all the important people that I love, respect, and admire the most, who helped me along the way. Not to mention, the long journey, the great experience and all the fond memories I had !
What’s next for me?.... Who knows?!... I may just sit back and enjoy the sport as a true fan, or I may go back to competing and take things a step further. But regardless, I know I’ll have the same undying love every time I pick up a dumbbell no matter what the time, place and the aim is... :-)
