Deniz Üçok
DKY On Brand Ambassador / Community Manager
Istanbul, Turkey
Deniz received her BA in Graphic Design, and after working in advertising agencies for several years, her interests leaned toward sustainability. Quitting corporate life in 2005, she continued to work as a freelance designer while pursuing learning about self-sufficient systems. After taking the Permaculture Design Certificate course from Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton in 2010, she founded Permablitz Istanbul as a means to practice permaculture in an urban setting, and quickly noticed the importance of community and interdependence. Since then she has been involved in several projects as facilitator, organizer, consultant and teacher while continuing to learn about these practices. She often finds herself pulled toward subjects of collaborative community practice and how an interdisciplinary approach may foster healthier and more sustainable communities, and thus cities. She is interested in projects that help individuals feel empowered to make a change in their lives, which she believes then ripples out to the greater community and generates wellbeing in ecosystems.