Turkish Coffee Lady & Path to be Successful Entrepreneur

Gizem Şalcıgil White

Founder & CEO of Turkish Coffee Lady Corporation

Gizem Şalcıgil White, aka the Turkish Coffee Lady, is a Turkish American entrepreneur with a unique mission: to create a global community of explorers and coffee lovers.

Gizem Şalcıgil White has been a goodwill ambassador for Turkish coffee culture since 2009 and is the founder of the award-winning non-profit Turkish Coffee Truck initiative.

She is also the founder of the award-winning ‘Turkish Coffee Truck’, which promotes gastrodiplomacy. Through this non-profit initiative, White and a group of dedicated volunteers traveled across America, Turkey, Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Canada for eight years. Her inspiring work has been featured in many major news outlets including the Washington Post, Washingtonian, BBC, WJLA-TV, WUSA9, and New York Times, FOX5DC and her fans started calling her the “Turkish Coffee Lady”. In May 2012, she was honored by the U.S. Congress for fostering friendship between Turkish and American people through their mutual love for coffee.

In February 2014, Gizem received the "Cultural Sustainability Award" for her “Turkish Coffee Truck” project by Istanbul Tourist Guides Union. In November 2015, she was selected one of "Top Young Outstanding Persons 2015" in the culture category by JCI International. In March 2017, she was named as one of "Top 40 Most Influential Turkish Americans" by Turk of America Magazine. On March 11, 2021, she received the prestigious “Golden Compass Award” for her 2019 U.S. Turkish Coffee Truck Tour by Turkey’s Public Relations Association, TUHID.

Gizem served as the president of American Turkish Association of Washington D.C. (ATA-DC) between 2013-2017. She also served as the Vice President of the Capital Region for the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) for two years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Banking & Finance from Bilkent University and a master’s degree in Global Marketing Communication & Advertising from Emerson College, Boston. Her professional interests include nation branding and gastro/cultural diplomacy.

In 2017, she founded Turkish Coffee Lady, Inc; a woman-owned authentic gourmet coffee business dedicated to bridging cultures one coffee at a time. Turkish Coffee Lady’s culture house is located in Old Town, Alexandria VA. The small business was selected as the success story of Virginia in 2022. She was also announced as one of the most inspiring women of 2022 by the VIP Alexandria magazine. On March 7th, she was recognized with the "Heroes Award" by the Mrs. Tourism USA Foundation.

On March 8, 2020, Gizem established the world’s first coffee diplomacy association, Turkish Coffee Lady Foundation, which is also committed to inspiring women entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams.

She lives in Alexandria with her husband and 8-year old daughter.

Abu Sufian Haider

Mr. Haider is a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD), has an MS in Electronics, is 5th Degree Black Belt holder & Founder and Chief Instructor of a Martial Arts School in the USA.

Alpha Net was Founded in 2001 by Abu Sufian Haider, who is a Bangladesh born US Citizen currently living in Orlando, Florida. Mr. Haider moved to Orlando in early 2001 after completing Bachelors & Masters in Electronics from India. Later that year, he established Alpha Net with a goal to provide the highest quality Technology & Hosting Solutions in Bangladesh. He continues to oversee Alpha Net's Cloud Infrastructure in the USA.

Mr. Haider has been active with science and scientific experiments since his early childhood days. During middle school, he organized a science club that operated in multiple Districts of Bangladesh and participated in the National Science Fair every year. In high school, twice his projects received national awards at the National Science and Technology Fair. Some of the key members of his science club later became involved in establishing Alpha Net and they are still actively developing various projects today.