Ayse Cinar
Leadership & Wellbeing Coach / Trainer/Researcher/TEDX Organizer
University of Dundee & To Be the One Coaching
Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
I meditate every morning and you can see me holding a TEDDY Bear with a smile. On the other hand, I love organizing TED Talks. Maybe `TED` is the magic word for me.
Tell us about your career journey so far, from school to now.
‘Maybe the Golden Key to True Success and Happiness is Hidden in Our Childhood `Stories`
It all started during my childhood when I was telling myself stories about a peaceful and happier world; that inspired my adulthood passion – to support people to unlock and maximize their potential for positive change, thereby contributing to a better world. I started my own resilience journey as a PhD student in a foreign country, Finland. My first international research was about understanding the core foundations of behavioural change. That research, awarded by L’Oréal UNESCO Women in Science, led me to design and deliver an award-winning international project at the University of Copenhagen to assess the effects of coaching on well-being and self-leadership, mostly among women from ethnic minorities. Then, I was invited to the University of Dundee as Senior Research Fellow to design and deliver a coaching training programme for prisoners to develop resilient leadership skills. In 2018, my job contract was not extended, and I had some challenging times at both my career ladder and personal life. Just before COVID-19, I started my own consulting business and also working as an honorary consultant coach at the Dundee University, Dental School to design and deliver coaching projects. In 2021, I shifted the focus of my start-up business to Women Empowerment. I now support busy and stressed women professionals to lead with impact while having time freedom via transformational coaching (1-1, teams), and resilient leadership training.
What is your job and what is your favourite thing about it?
As a Coach, I support women professionals to develop confidence and make a difference in their professional lives. I use techniques such as one to one coaching to support them. I have been trained as Mental Fitness Coach by one of the most powerful mental strength development programmes for leaders and entrepreneurs, Positive Intelligence, stemming from global research among 500 thousand people. I love working with women and helping to support them in their personal growth and achieving their career and personal ambitions.
I also work with the University of Dundee to develop coaching and leadership development for their staff and students. As part of my role, I have launched three TEDX talks with my colleagues to create an impact on Climate Change by inspiring women leaders/entrepreneurs for holistic actions for a Healthier, Greener, and Fairer World.
Are there any women who especially inspired you to go into your career?
My mum… I grew up in an industrial estate, and I had to go my mum`s office before and after school between the ages of 7-12. I saw how my Mum, as the leader of a law department, was taking care of me and her colleagues at the same time – she really inspired me and was a model for resilient compassionate leadership.
Can you suggest an activity that could be done at home that illustrates an aspect of your work?
If you want to learn about how you can become a Leader, starting with self-leadership is an important trait. Self-leadership includes building the mental strength to become stress-less and have more time freedom and joy. I have designed a short booklet as part of my workshop for the Loreal UNESCO Women in Science Alumni that you can check out here: Self leadership booklet
This page is part of our#BreakTheBias blog series for International Women’s Day 2022. We’re sharing the career stories of some of our incredible women YAS members. We hope this will give a snapshot of the wide variety of jobs that women work in today, and inspire girls & young women into careers that they may not yet have considered. To illustrate part of their job, each member has also suggested a fun activity for you to try at home!
To see more snapshots of YAS members, please return to our main International Women’s Day Gallery.
Return to gallery
