Festival Arena Episode 4: The transforming power of sports

Sevecen Tunç was born in 1984 in Samsun. After completing her BA in Economics at Boğaziçi University, she completed her MA (2009) and PhD (2019) at the same university’s Atatürk Institute. As part of her PhD studies, she took part in the Yale University Fox International Fellowship Programme between 2014 and 2015 to refine her research on mega sports events influence and impact on international relations. Along with her academic articles, she regularly writes for the Socrates magazine. Additionally, she wrote ‘Baba Hakkı’ with Rıdvan Eker (İnkılâp Publishing House), ‘Mektepliler, Münevverler, Meraklılar - Trabzon'da Futbolun Toplumsal Tarihi’ (İletişim Publishing House) and a biographical conversation book about Mustafa Alabora titled ‘İşim Gücüm Yaşamak’ (Heyamola Pubklishin House). She is a lecturer in history of sports at Bahçeşehir University, Bilgi University and Okan University. For the last four years, she has been working for Trabzonspor Club as the Corporate Communications and Cultural Affairs Manager. 

Founder and Director Melis Abacıoğlu, went to the German High School in Istanbul and she graduated from Columbia University with a double major in Mathematics and Art History. She has extensive managerial and corporate experience, with a focus on business development in the health sector. She founded the volunteer-based group Hareket Candır! in 2012 which now has thousands of members and has triggered an eponymous movement. During her studies for an MBA at Bilgi University and IHR Certification training, she worked on creating corporate wellness eco-systems for companies. With her joy for life, energy, and strength from living well, she founded Actifit in 2012 to share this gift with more people. She is also behind Kızlar Sahada and is the co-founder of Sweaters App. Melis works on project structures and system development at Actifit.