Three Turkish-American women will serve in the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, who took office on Jan. 20. Didem Nişancı, former global head of public policy for Bloomberg LP, became the chief of staff for Janet Yellen, the new treasury secretary. Nişancı worked for four years as chief of staff at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the Obama administration, where among other duties she served as chief White House liaison. She also served as staff director of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment, including in the wake of the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. From 1998 to 2001, she worked as a deputy to the assistant treasury secretary. Nişancı graduated from Smith College and lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and two daughters.

By Deniz Türkbaş, Esq*. - With the new year, comes new hopes and new aspirations. However, with Covid still in the midst, it is hard to tell how our hopes and aspirations will come to fruition. For those whose hopes and aspirations revolve around real estate, some may be happier than others. Covid has affected some positively and some negatively.  Although the tell-tale rule seems be holding true, in real estate, it’s all about location, location, location. Ironically, Covid has changed what we consider a desirable location. When Covid began, we all locked ourselves in our homes and we distanced ourselves from friends, family, coworkers and, well, basically everyone. Your desirable location became questionable depending on the size of your living quarters. It’s desirable to live in a city where you can go out to eat and frequent Broadway shows. But as the pandemic caused social distancing, New York City restaurants were not allowed to serve people inside. During the summer months, this was not so terrible, as any resilient New Yorker, we all adapted to our new normal. But still many restaurants were unable to survive. We saw iconic restaurants close, such as the 21 Club. Founded in 1930, the 21 Club, known for its jockeys lined up in front, has hosted very president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, aside from George W. Bush. Broadway shows closed. Needless to say, many establishment owners’ hopes and aspirations were hit hard with Covid.

Prior to starting her career in real estate, she was at the United Nations representing World Information Transfer (WIT) in compliance with the Ukrainian Mission focusing on health and sustainable development related to the Chernobyl disaster. She later joined Kushner Companies working for their family office and that was her foray into commercial real estate. Damla spent 8 years at JLL, and joined Colliers International as a Director of Leasing. 

Feyza Kemahlıoğlu is the founder and principal of FEYZ Studio. Born and raised in İstanbul, Turkey, she completed her Bachelors of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University, USA and her Master’s in Architecture and Urban Design at Columbia University GSAPP in New York City, USA.
Her training in architecture, art, glassblowing and woodworking pushed her to launch her own architecture and design studio where the focus is to create high quality, sculptural pieces through research into unique methods of making.