December 20, 2025
I say this all the time, and I will never stop: House of Sól’s greatest fortune — its biggest flex, its secret weapon, its entire reason for being — is the House of Sól women.
Thousands of HoS women, scattered across every time zone, who get what they set their minds to, who make the impossible look routine, who build their own path and then pave it for the next person coming through.
As we close out the year, I wanted to spotlight five women whose stories stopped me in my tracks this year. Because courage is contagious — and sometimes all it takes is one woman’s story to give a thousand others permission to go for it.
Banu Ucak — Architect, editor, curator, international competition juror, and design director. Her Istanbul Sohbetleri (Istanbul Conversations) events this year are at the very top of things I’m devastated to have missed. She just released her latest book, Yalın Seyler (Simple Things), and it’s exactly what the title promises.
Av. Dr. Çiğdem Ayözger Öngün — Founder of one of Istanbul’s top law firms and a trusted name in data privacy, competition law, and tech law in Türkiye. She’s also President of the International Women’s Forum Türkiye. The woman is essentially running the legal version of a multiverse.
Melek Zeynep Bulut — Artist, architect, and — in my book — philosopher. Zeynep works at the intersection of experimental architecture, behavioral sciences, and visual arts, exploring how we perceive space in ways that rewire your brain a little. She represented Türkiye at the London Design Biennale, and yes, she made the whole country proud.
Merin Sever — Editor-in-Chief of Mundi Publishing and one of the most mind-expanding people I know. Her literary taste is impeccable, her YouTube conversations are a joy, and she has this rare ability to weave gastronomy with history and socioeconomic readings in a way that makes you feel smarter just for listening. Her latest book, Kırk Kat Baklava Tarihi (Forty Layers of Baklava History), won first place worldwide at the International Gourmand Awards. Forty layers of history. I mean, come on.
Çigdem Yazıcıoglu — Daughter of a diplomat family and a true citizen of the world — studied everywhere, speaks multiple languages, lived on practically every continent. During a horse safari in Kenya, her horse was spooked by a hippopotamus, she fell and injured her spinal cord, and became paralyzed from the chest down. But instead of letting her story slow down, she shifted into a completely new gear. She’s rebuilding her “Second Life” from scratch and teaching the rest of us daily lessons in resilience, grace, and the kind of strength that makes you sit up a little straighter just from reading about her.
These five women remind me every day why I do what I do. They’re not just wearing House of Sól — they’re living it.
With love and admiration,
Naz
