Eletirdiimiz Kadar Deitirelim | Elif Eda Güne | TEDxAtakumWomen
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4jDfxOMNdI Video ID: e4jDfxOMNdI ============================================================ Translator: Emre OKUR Reviewer: esra kurul Hi, I want to start by telling you a very short story first. Lilith's story. According to a legend, Lilith is a woman created on equal terms with Adam. A woman created before Eve. She was created on completely equal terms with Adam. But while they are living in heaven, Adam wants to make Lilith do everything. In a word, he wants to enslave her. But Lilith defies him by leaving heaven and going to hell. On the purpose of her own freedom and independence. And despite the pleas of Adam, God and angels, she never returns to heaven again. Then, God grieves for Adam so much that... ...he creates Eve from Adam’s spine. And then, actually, the story begins. In my life story, it is not from Eve, but from Lilith to Sofia. Sorry, I’m so excited because right now, one of my dreams is coming true. Thank you. I'm Elif Eda Güneş. I was born and raised in a small village of Yozgat. When I was a child, I used to look at the stars and dream. And I grew up dreaming of changing the world and revolutionizing it. My father is a revolutionist. No matter how much he wanted to keep me out of there, I did want to follow his steps no matter what. But my dreams were a little different. My understanding of revolution was much different from his. That's why I always dreamed of looking at the stars and... I always wondered how I could do it. I used to think on how I can appeal to audiences, how I can create change, how I can have the revolution I want. I want to tell you about my first project. My first project... When I was 8 years old, I was in second grade. It was a project against gender inequalities that I saw in the village and around me, yet I didn’t realize it then. I mean I wasn’t aware of that. I was not aware of this inequality in the world. I just learned to read and write then, and women in the village didn’t know how to read and write. And that's why they couldn't defend their rights either. I taught them literacy by thinking, “If I teach them to read and write, they might defend their rights, and fight against negative situations they face.” I taught literacy to women in the village wanted to learn it when I was 8 years old. And, “I can do that with sports.” I said, and I started playing football. “I can do this with theatre and addressing a lot of people on stage... I can create change, I can be part of a change.” I said. Hence, I started playing theatre. But still a voice inside me was saying my dream wouldn’t come true with these. And I couldn’t find myself. When I was working in theatre, we moved to Kayseri, and they bought me a phone. I texted all the Turkish scientists I could write on that phone. “I wanted to make a change. I was born and raised in a village. Do you think I can do that?” From Mr. Umut, Umut Yıldız is from NASA. He is still my teacher, and I am very proud of it. The few minutes of talking to Mr. Umut contributed a lot of great things for me. He introduced me to a team, and there I learned software. I learned what is called software. My story about software is actually like this. I was supposed to be in the village at the time. I did have neither internet nor computer. How could I do it? I only knew Python programming language. But I just know the name of Python. I went and printed a PDF. It was about code examples, algorithm and all about Python language. Then, by writing I transferred them to another a piece of paper then I started learning the beginner level. When I was second year in high school, I went to college and said that “I want to do this professionally. I want to be a programmer in the future. Can you teach me?” I also met some really good people there. And I started taking classes in college when I was in high school. I took Python algorithm classes. At the same time, I started developing projects in Erciyes Teknopark. I still hadn’t been able to find myself doing these things. I mean, yeah... I started making money. When I was 14, I was able to live on my own. I was earning money, but that wasn’t the dream I wanted. My dream was to change the world. It seemed funny to me at first. And it might sound funny to you, too. I won’t judge at all. Then I thought, “what can I do?” And I started a project called The Butterfly Effect. For two years with this project, I visited village schools, oncology services, schools for children with autism, and I started telling them “What is science? What is technology? and which professions could they become in the future?” Actually, I am so emotional about this, I might cry. Sorry, I have a story. I went to see a patient named Elif in the oncology unit every day. Her parents weren’t able to accompany her. I was trying to behave as an older sister as much as I could. I was putting her to sleep. We were painting together. I was trying to explain science, technology, so that she had a hope, so that she could hold on to life to continue to live. I couldn’t go there during the pandemic. I ate salt with her every day. I can’t give a scientific explanation right now. But doctors were trying to feed her with salt. Because I heard taking it through serum kept her in the hospital more. I used to go and eat salt with her every day, but a lot of salt. Someone called me from an unknown number 5 months after the pandemic started. It was Elif. She called me to tell that she was all right. It was a time when I felt like giving up. In a mood when I said, “Pandemic, I can’t go anywhere. I don't know what to do. Thank you. I don't know what to do. I can't touch anything. I can’t touch any person.” I can say that Elif’s call has brought me back into life. Then I started working harder. I started to exert myself more on software. I realized that AI software was... Actually, something I could touch a lot of people’s lives. Technology, especially, was something I could touch a lot of people’s lives. The key thing was able to manage it correctly. I decided to come to İstanbul because my business networks were in İstanbul. There were things I could do here. And after I finished high school, I had an offer from Vodafone. So, I moved to İstanbul and started working at Vodafone. The one year working experience was an incredible experience for me. I became a team coach there. I was in Mobile App Development department. I learned a lot. Then I got a new job in TÜBİTAK. After going to TÜBİTAK, I noticed one thing. “I want to do my own job. I want to be on the management side. and how can I do that?” I said, and I began to search it. Then I started working as a manager in a startup. The goal of this startup is solely innovation. We provided companies with people capable of developing and implementing projects... ...externally with challenging tasks and software competitions. That motivated me incredibly. I currently work for a startup called Link. I also work as a content manager here. Actually, my life story is just like that briefly. I mean, really from Lilith... From that struggle... The things I gave up to fight... ...starts from that time and comes to this day. I say I'm glad I gave up. Because on this road, from my family, from my friends... I gave up everything. And I never regret that. So, someone has asked a question to us women. Did technology create women, or did women create technology? I questioned it a lot when I first heard it. Why might such a thing have been thought of? I thought “How can such a question arise when the first programmer was a woman... ...when we see women’s works everywhere, when we are everywhere in art, society... ...science, technology, when we are everywhere the place?” But, alas, it was just like that. That’s what I saw in schools I went to, the things I experienced around me, the things people went through. But I’ll answer this question clearly. We women continue to create everything and we will continue to do so. Soon there will be a photo behind me. The women in this photo are women who touch my life, women who have always had a place in my life. One of them has always been with me here. I am currently working on a project again. It's all about women again. It's about women's health. I’m working on an app that includes everything women can learn about health. I will continue to work from now on. I’ll continue to exist, to exist for all of us in society, and to exist here on behalf of other women. Could you project the photo? I’m sorry, I’m keeping you waiting. That’s my mother holding mushrooms. It is one of my greatest prides in life. Because one of the things that made me exist in this scene is my mother's work. She’s a productive person. Other women are the women who have a very important place in my life. The woman I work with now is 27 years old. Merve Yorgancılar and her only goal now is the digitalization of the blue collar. We are currently working on the digitalization of the blue collar. At the same time, I am writing an article with Marmara University about the digitalization of the blue collar. And at this age, It really makes me so proud to be working with women my age. There are people I want to thank here. I thank you to all the women in the world producing, existing in technology existing in art, women who are everywhere in life. Thank you! We will continue to exist. I would also like to thank Mustafa Kemal Atatürk helped me... ...to be on this stage in the 100th year of the republic of Turkey.