Alpaytaç says after her analysis was published in the Wall Street Journal, which included where the then presidential candidate Obama was making mistakes in his campaign in the internet, the Democratic candidate changed his strategy.
The story of Hüma Alpaytaç, 43, is reminiscent of the story of a bird in heaven, called “Hüma” in Turkish, or “Phoenix” as it is known in English, because hers is also the story of a woman born out of her own ashes. When she decided to divorce her American husband a decade ago, she left home with her two young children and two suitcases.
From an unhappy housewife, Alpaytaç became the owner of Alpaytac Inc., a PR agency in Chicago with a $3 million turnover.
“My father was a medicine intern at the American Hospital, in Istanbul. I inherited my father’s sense of professional responsibility and his determination. I was in the national swimming team for six years. I am a record holder for Turkey,” she said.
After graduating from Robert College in Istanbul, she won a scholarship and went to the United States.
Her father told her she would have to manage to live on her own there. “He told me, ‘from now on, you are alone. Don’t expect anything from me.’ So I learned to live my life thanks to my father’s attitude. I got double degrees at Bryn Mawr College of Business and of Fine Arts,” she said, adding that she worked 20 hours a week to earn money. “I babysat, washed dishes and even worked as a secretary. I also learned French.”
I trusted my instincts and divorced my husband
After returning to Turkey, Alpaytaç worked in a publicity agency. She settled in the Netherlands after she married in 1991.
She worked as a marketing manager of a Dutch company for five years. She learned Flemish and earned a masters degree in painting from the Rotterdam Art Academy.
“At my graduation exhibition I painted Turks living in the Netherlands and their social inclusion problems. That grabbed the media’s attention,” she said.
When she moved to Chicago she had already given birth to a boy and a girl. But she found it hard to adapt to life in the States. “Initially it was very difficult for me. I turned into an unhappy housewife. In fact, at the end of this process, I got a bitter divorce. I didn’t have any job experience in the U.S. and had a three-year-old and a five-year-old. But my inner voice was telling me that I shouldn’t remain in this marriage any longer. I had a very difficult time but never regretted the decision,” she said.
I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer
As she experienced the stormy days of her life, Turkey was struck by a disaster as well: the 1997 earthquake. “I reached the Turkish network and collected donations. I began to meet more people. I slowly became acquainted with the Turkish community in the States. I met the General Consul and we worked together. In 2000 I was elected chairwoman of the Turkish-American Association.”
But until then she had been unable to find a job earning decent money. The same year, she heard that the best 40 gourmet editors of the U.S. would be on a taste tour in Turkey. So she went to the tour company and told them she could organize it and handle the PR for free. She proposed the company hire her if she was successful.
The company agreed. “I will never forget how I caught the Tourism Minister at the period at the stairs and convinced him to sponsor this tour. I didn’t take “no” as an answer. I worked hard and did it. Since then I don’t take “no” for an answer in my work,” she said.
Turkey sponsored the taste tour and when the gourmets returned home the American press paid a great deal of attention, said Alpaytaç. She was then given a job.
Greek angels came to rescue me
She worked as deputy manager in that PR firm for four years. “I was like a slave to my boss. He was treating me worse than Anna Wintour’s assistant in ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’” she said.
But her fate took a new turn when one of her clients offered to work with her instead of the company she represented.
“One of my responsibilities was to bring new clients in. I was calling tens of general managers each day to convince them to work with us. A general manager of a cleaning equipment company turned out to be very fond of Turkey and said ‘I want to work with you not with your boss’. I asked him if he would be my founding client. He said ‘I will. I guarantee to work with you for three-months.’ I believe people run across angels at certain times in their lives and that man was my angle,” she recounted.
Her second and third angels turned out to be a Greek couple. “They owned the building that housed the company where I worked. He was Donald Trump of Chicago! When I told them that I wanted to set-up my own business, they gave me the only room in the basement of that building for free for a year,” she said, adding, “Can you imagine the good deed of a Greek couple to a Turkish woman at the other side of the world? Since then I do believe in angels and am trying to be an angel to others, when I find the occasion.”
I covered my $120,000 master’s cost
After founding her company, she worked like crazy. “As I earned money, I hired more people. Three years later I applied for the Kellogg’s Executive MBA Program. It is number one among all the universities in the U.S. I was rejected, but I explained myself to them. It was a must for me to have this education. I had to find an open door and sneak in.” She succeeded in finding that open door, and was accepted into the program.
65 of the 70 people who were accepted that year were male. Almost all were being financed by the companies for whom they worked. I was the only company owner and I paid $120,000 to attend classes. It was 30 hours a week. But at the end of two years, I learned a lot,” she said.
When she graduated, she had five customers. Yet, by 2008 her company was chosen among the three best marketing companies in the United States.
“I must confess that I benefited from the worsening American economy. In contrast to big agencies asking for big money, I attracted clients by promising quick outcomes with little investment. My one-room office was expanded into a bigger one. I transferred young and brilliant personnel from my competitors.”
I had my share in Obama’s being elected
Alpaytaç belives she played a role in Obama’s election as president, since her analysis made Obama change his election campaign.
An analysis she made at the end of 2008 for a search engine client was published in The Wall Street Journal: “We said in the analysis that McCain’s campaign on the Internet was better than that of Obama. We pin-pointed where Obama had made mistakes. After the news story was published Obama’s election campaign was changed the way we suggested,” she said, adding her company was given an award for this research.
The brand created by social media: Bellator
“We’ve been specializing in social media recently because online shopping trends in the U.S. are out of control. You can buy anything through the Internet. We were awarded by the American Marketing Association two months ago for creating a new brand thanks to social media. It’s called Bellator. Bellator is a sports activity growing in the U.S. and includes all kinds of sports from the Far East. Athletes can apply all sorts of fighting techniques. The leader of the sector is UFC but Bellator is the second-entry to the market. And it gained its reputation through social media only. We uploaded exciting clips from competitions to Youtube and allowed them to be shared on Facebook and Twitter. A total of 3.5 million people watched and it boomed. Social media is an indispensible gadget in the U.S. Any kind of campaign can be announced through social media.”
Celebrities leave Twitter but CEOs are in
“Many celebrities in the U.S. are deleting their Twitter accounts because they are the subject of fierce criticism. As such negative experiences continue to occur, this platform will either shrink or change shape. For the moment, Twitter is so popular among CEOs of brand names in the U.S. Through Twitter, customers connect with the brands they are interested in. So, a brand turns into a reality. I know CEOs who tweet themselves directly. Some others are being represented by two or three tweets a day and announce what’s new.”
My dream is to create a film like ‘Barcelona Barcelona’
“Right now I have two big dreams, one of which is for me to return to arts and the other is to mediate a film like “Barcelona Barcelona,” to be produced in Turkey, and with this to promote our country around the world.
I helped Sharon Stone and Andy Garcia appear in “Kurtlar Vadisi” (“Valley of the Wolves”) and Christina Aguilera and Fifty Cent to be hosted at “Var mısın Yok musun” (“Deal or No Deal”) contest.”
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