Storyteller. Author. Coach.

Hey there! Pelin here.

I am a writer, storyteller and mentor – and I’ve been passionate about stories since I was knee high. I grew up in Turkey, then largely closed to the world, and my best friend was a hand-me-down Fisher Price tape player with cassettes (yes, those!) of the old myths and fairy tales.

I honed my storytelling craft in the best possible places — as a writer for publications such as TIME magazine and The Independent and as co-founder of !f, a much-loved independent film festival and a regional screenwriters lab with the Sundance Institute. Along the way, I saw just how radically a good story can connect people, even with opposing viewpoints.

On the outside, everything looked great. On the inside, I struggled with anxiety. I had questions about life that took me to Buddhism and meditation, traditional healers in the remote Amazon, systemic constellations training and a pilgrimage across Spain. I lost a country to authoritarianism, gained a new one and eventually found joy as a storyteller and creative writing coach. 

I’ve taught storytelling at institutions across Europe such as The School of Life, The International School of Storytelling and Escape the City. I’m a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader, a mentor for RESPOND startup accelerator and PLACE, supporting migrant-led innovation in Europe. And I always love working with filmmakers on their scripts.

I know you have a story (or two) that lives in you – that only you can tell. I help you find that. Not through more hustle and should-ing, but through reconnecting to what I call the Muse, the joy and pleasure of writing as a way of life. I work with all kinds of people on TED talks, websites, novels, memoirs and screenplays. Some are already highly capable writers, others are just getting started. My signature is to combine an eminently practical goal with rediscovered joy and poetic creativity.

When I’m not writing or working with writers, you can find me in the garden, getting my hands dirty and ooh-ing over the magic that lives there all the time.