TURKOFAMERICA has published the most influential Turks under 40 in the USA in their latest special edition. The magazine, which was established in 2002 by two young Turkish entrepreneurs, ranked the most influential Turks from every area, ranging from Silicon Valley to the New York financial world, sport, and the arts and film industry, as the top '40 under 40'. Hafize Gaye Erkan, Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Officer and Co-chief Risk Officer of the First Republic Bank, was ranked in first place. She joined the bank in 2014 and has overseen its banking activities in the Boston and Portland regions.

Hafız Gaye Erkan graduated from Boğaziçi University Industrial Engineering Department with honors. After graduation, Erkan was offered scholarships from nine major colleges including Stanford, Princeton, Boston, Cornell, and California and she choose to attend Princeton. Erkan did her doctorate on financial engineering. She completed the doctoral program in one year and she changed the rule of Princeton’s 246 years of history.  She was the first student in Princeton’s history to complete her PhD one year. She once held the title of America’s youngest finance professor. Erkan also changed the graduation system in the centuries-old history of the university management, taking the 2-2.5 year graduation requirement down to 1 year.

Hidayet Turkoglu was the real pioneer for Turkish basketball players in NBA history. He retired from the Orlando Magic after a 15-year-long NBA career last year. Young Turkish NBA players follow in his footsteps. Ömer F. Aşık is one of them. Ömer was born on July 4, 1986 in Bursa, Turkey. He is a member of Turkish National Basketball Team and currently plays for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Aşık, standing at 7'0", was sought after by many of the top Euroleague basketball teams at the age of 19.

Perhaps few Americans know that Santa Claus was from Demre, a town and its surrounding district in the Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. But it’s a well-know story that in major American cities, such as New York, Washington, DC, and Boston, the largest all year long Christmas gift stores are owned by a Turkish entrepreneur. How crazy is that business idea, of selling Christmas gifts all year long at huge retail locations? It’s a seasonal occasion and nobody had ever dreamt about it except one young entrepreneur, Neslihan Kocabaş Hıdırlıgil.