Bio to come…

Ayşe Nilgün Diptaş was born in Ankara in 1960, and after graduating from Marmara University Faculty of Theology in 1984, she served in various schools. She completed her master’s degree in Education Psychology at Marmara University in 1997. As a private sector company manager, she started to work in civil society organizations and political affairs. In addition to providing in – house trainings, she gave trainings and seminars on Parent School, School, Teacher, Student Relations and Women and Family. She is currently a board member of the Turkish Youth Foundation, History and Islamic Research Foundation and Istanbul Women’s Research Center (Ikam).

After actively continuing her amateur political life which had started in high school from 1990 until 2013, she reactivated the Nil Venture Group, which was founded in 1994, under the name of Nil Education and Solidarity Association (NEYAD) in 2015. Diptaş, who speaks English, Arabic and Ottoman Turkish, is married and mother of two children.

Sidre Bali Diptaş graduated from the French Language Teaching Department at Marmara University and completed her master’s degree in Civil Society Organization Management at Medeniyet University.

Since 2011, she has been actively involved in various non-governmental organizations. She is a founding member of the Nil Education and Aid Association (NEYAD) and currently serves as the Vice President. Within this scope, she has taken part in the planning and implementation of numerous national and international conferences, workshops, seminars, training programs, and fundraising events.

Since 2005, she has been managing her own restaurant business operating in Istanbul. She is fluent in English and French.

Bio to come…

Born in Brussels in 1982, Mahinur ÖZDEMİR GÖKTAŞ, graduated from Université Libre de Bruxelles, Department of Economy, Political and Social Sciences. She began her political career as the Vice President of the Schaerbeek Organization of the Francophone Christian Democrat Party CDH.

In 2006, she became a member of the Schaerbeek City Council in Brussels. In the election of 2009, she became a member of Brussels Parliament as the first ever member with a headscarf. Within the context of this duty, which she continued until 2019, she served as the Deputy Chairman of the Social Services Commission of the Brussels Parliament, and the Deputy Chairman of the Commission on Equal Opportunities for Men and Women. Throughout her political career, she took an active role in the fields of employment of women, women entrepreneurship, violence against women, domestic violence and equal opportunity as well as environment and urban planning not only in the Brussels Parliament but also in various NGOs. She also took an active role in the fight against discrimination and Islamophobia.

In 2005, she was expelled from her party on the grounds that she did not recognize the allegations of Armenian genocide. She then continued her career as an independent member of Parliament.

For two years, she contributed  to the execution of the “Forgotten Women Project”, which was initiated to increase visibility of the Muslim women in Europe by the European Network against Racism.

For three years, she was placed in ‘The Muslim 500’ list, which identifies the most influential Muslims in the world, declared each year by Jordan-based Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (RISSC).

In 2009, she was awarded the title of “Pioneer and Exemplary Woman” by the New Arabic Woman Forum. In 2019, she was declared as one of the most 100 influential women in Belgium. She was awarded the Order of Leopold thanks to her contributions in Belgium in the same year.

Since 2019, she has continued being a member of The Organization of Islamic Cooperation Women’s Consultative Council. In 2020, she was appointed as the Ambassador of Algeria, which made her the first woman Ambassador of Türkiye to North Africa.

On the 4th of June, 2023, she took her place in the cabinet as the Minister of Family and Social Services of the Republic of Türkiye.

She is married with two children and speaks French, English and Dutch.

Bio to come…

Gordon M. Tapper is the Founder of Give Them a Hand Foundation, President of the United African Congress and Board Member of Non-Governmental Organizations, the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network. He has had a long and distinguished career of over 35 years of service at the United Nations and is a former Chief of Section in the Department of Administration and Management.  Mr. Tapper numbers amongst his more important contributions at the UN, his participation in the first fair and free elections held in South Africa as a member of the UNOMSA mission. Then he was assigned to Kwazulu/Natal where he established and supervised electoral offices and meetings of the peace processes. In 2004 and while still a UN Staff Member Mr. Tapper founded the Non- Profit Organization, Give Them a HandFoundation (GTAH) which since has led humanitarian and medical missions to disaster areas including those affected by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy and to Haiti following the massive earthquake that destroyed much of Port Au Prince. Under his leadership, GTAH has hosted an annual World Interfaith Harmony Week program each February since 2012. GTAH with partnering organizations also hosted the first Ebola Forum at the United Nations in August of 2014 in the ECOSOC Chamber with the participation of ambassadors of the three most affected countries. He is a proud native of Jamaica in the West Indies. He is a graduate of Pace University in New York City from which he obtained a degree in Business Administration.

Dr. Judy Kuriansky, fondly called “Dr. Judy” by so many who know and love her, is internationally-known clinical psychologist, humanitarian, philanthropist, author, and award-winning journalist. 

In Academia, she is a professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia University Teachers College, and lectures worldwide. She was a visiting professor at Peking Health Sciences Center and the Hong Kong Psychiatric Institute. She avidly supports her students’ professional development, mentoring them on international projects and missions about health in Hanoi, Haiti recovery, at the UN Disaster Risk Reduction Conference in Japan, on women’s rights in Beirut, refugees in Jordan,  at the World Government Summit in Dubai, training Chinese volunteers,  supporting Nepalese health workers, and producing COVID-19 response webinars and interventions worldwide.

At the United Nations for over 20 years, she is an NGO Representative of the International Association of Applied Psychology and World Council for Psychotherapy in consultative status with ECOSOC and association with the Department of Global Communications, and has advocated to secure the inclusion of mental health and well-being in the UN 2030 Agenda, the Political Declaration for UHC, and the Global Compact for Migration, and is an honorary member of the Group of Friends of Mental Health and Well-being, having founded it with Ambassador Otto of Palau during the SDG negotiations in 2014. She has co-organized, moderated and been a speaker at innumerable UN events, including for UN Commission on the Status of Women, Commission on Social Development, Science, Technology and Innovation Forum, World Interfaith Harmony Week, the UN High-Level Political Forum, and many others.

As a humanitarian, she has co-developed a girls camp in Africa, and is notably a first responder providing post-disaster recovery worldwide to build psychological resilience after terrorism, natural disasters and epidemics, including after 911, school shootings, and in Japan, China, Iran, St. Maarten, Sri Lanka, Haiti, and for Syrian refugees in Jordan, and significantly went to Sierra Leone not only during AIDS, but during Ebola when everyone was running away, about which she wrote a book, The Psychosocial Issues of a Deadly Epidemic: What Ebola has Taught us about Holistic Healing. She co-developed the Global Kids Connect Project that promotes resilience of children and communities around the world, and the Stand Up for Peace Project that hosts peace charity concerts, symposia, and memorials with original songs and workshops worldwide. 

Her many other books include topics covering international relations, including Ecospsychology: The Intersection of Psychology and Environmental Protection,  Beyond Bullets and Bombs: Grassroots Peacebuilding between Israelis and Palestinians, and a special journal issue on “Models of Mental Health and Human Rights in Celebration of The 60th Anniversary of The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights for All” as well as interpersonal relationships, including The Complete Guide to A Healthy Relationship, and 31 Things to Raise a Child’s Self-Esteem. Her latest edited volumes are Psychosocial Experiences and Adjustment of Migrants: Coming to the USA and Resilient Health: Leveraging Technology and Social Innovations to Transform Healthcare for COVID-19 Recovery and Beyond. 

A trustee of the United African Congress, and Policy Advisor to H.E. Ambassador Sidique Wai of the Embassy of Sierra Leone to the United States, she has hosted a U.S.-Africa Business Expo and the First Ladies of Africa Health Summit, and also served on the Board of Voices of Africa Mothers.

A strong advocate for gender equality, she has presented at innumerable events during the Commission on the Status of Women on empowerment and leadership, and supports First Lady of Sierra Leone Fatima Maada Bio’s #HandsOffOurGirls campaign.       

An award-winning journalist and media personality, she has been a reporter, host or expert commentator on innumerable TV shows for decades, pioneered the format of call-in radio advice, and hosted top-rated radio shows for 25 years. A columnist for years — for newspapers such as Singapore’s The Straits Times and the NY Daily News — she also now writes for Black Star News. She has been featured in many magazines from People to Rolling Stone and quoted in innumerable newspapers including in The NY Times. She hosted the Money and Emotions television show on CNBC-TV, and was an expert commentator on ShowBiz Tonight on MSNBC-TV.

A cultural envoy, she invests in Broadway plays, and is a musician who played in an all-woman rock band and is currently a writing and performing partner with Russell Daisey, with whom she writes original anthems about hope and healing, such as Every Woman, Every Child, aligned with the UN campaign, as well as One in Faith for the UN World Interfaith Harmony Week, and Honor Our Girls which was written in honor of the First Lady Fatima Maada Bio’s #HandsOffOurGirls campaign. They have performed for the Dalai Lama, Reverend Desmond Tutu, and other dignitaries, and at many peace festivals around the world including in Japan, France and Mexico.

Her many awards include a Humanitarian Award for Lifetime Achievement in Global Peace and Tolerance, and Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio recently awarded her as Grand Commander of the Order of the Rokel.

She received her Ph.D. from New York University and her B.A. degree from Smith College.

Bio to come…

Bio to come…

Bio to come…