‘Women to Watch: Women Who Make a Difference’ ceremony was held at Swissotel The Bosphorus, Istanbul.
The success of Unilever’s media strategies, led by media director and regional coordinator Aslı Günaydın, was confirmed by many awards.
Aslı Günaydın, Unilever Turkey, Middle East, Iran and Israel, Media Director
After graduating from college in 2001 and starting at one of the world’s largest advertisers, Unilever, Aslı Günaydın has been the media director in charge of media budgets in Turkey since 2010 and in Central Asia, Iran and Israel since 2011.
The creative media projects that received Günaydın’s approval have received a slew of awards in the past two years. Unilever’s performance at Felis, which rewards creative media projects, was quite significant. Successful media strategies positioned Unilever as the most awarded advertiser of the event. It won the distinction “Advertiser of the Year” in 2012.
2001 was a difficult period, when one of the greatest crises in the country’s history occurred. It was a time when most companies weren’t even hiring. The young administrator views starting her career at that time at a place like Unilever, which has a school-like atmosphere that advances its employees in different areas and gives them different skill-based responsibilities, as her greatest luck.
Günaydın says she believes that a successful career is made through a combination of factors such as luck, personal development, vision and passion to grow. She says, “When I was still in high school, I channeled my passion to achieve the best into always furthering myself and my profession. Starting with this point of view, as a very young leader I believe that I’ll take on even greater responsibilities as I focus on learning, growing and making a difference.”
Considering the movements in her career, Günaydın is evidently someone who can take risks and has dreams. As for other personal characteristics that helped her advance professionally, she lists her focus on leading change as well as lending meaning to everything she does, not being afraid to take action, not backing down when faced with challenges, closely following trends, being able to see the big picture and advanced empathy skills as most important.
Aslı Günaydın’s first professional experience was working as a promotional staff member at a supermarket the summer she was 16. Günaydın greatly values this experience in terms of learning how to get to know different people and to persuade them through different methods as well as experiencing the first excitement of contributing greatly to the end result through small changes. She lists the position she’s had since 2010 as the greatest turning point in her career.
As a mother, Günaydın spends time outside of work by spending quality time with her daughter, exercising regularly and playing the flute. When she has extended free time traveling is a priority, as are going to the movies and catching up on books and magazines.
“As a very young leader, I believe that I’ll take on even greater responsibilities as I focus on learning, growing and making a difference.”
