MELİS ABACIOGLU
Founder & General Manager , WellbeesMelis graduated from the German High School in Istanbul and went on to do a double-major in Mathematics and Art History at Columbia University, New York. As a result of an intense soul searching she finally realized that motivating people to do sports is what truly inspires her. She co-founded Hareket Candır! i.e. Action is Life with her husband, a non-for-profit sports-organization that has over 7500 members and that raised over $200K for charity with the great support of volunteers. In 2012 she started her company Actifit, a corporate wellness firm that brings employees into action for a healthier life. The company has so far inspired new healthy habits within 90 companies and for over 44 thousand employees. Melis is also the founder of Kızlar Sahada. Kızlar Sahada's aim is to empower women and girls of all ages to say ''I can'' by taking them to the field of male dominated soccer. The movement introduced 6000 women to the game since 2012 and raised funds for Turkish fathers' gender equality awareness programmes. Melis is the co-founder of SWEATers App, a mobile platform for all things sport. The ecosystem grows with its community, user-generated content and big annual events such as SWEAT FEST, SWEAT KIDS, SWEAT in the PARK. Melis wrote her Masters thesis on Sustainable Behavior Change in Employee Wellness and has completed the Stanford University Habit Cycle Programme by BJ Fogg. Melis is the mother of Mila, queen of books, master of tennis, avid learner in yoga, and a huge fan of vulnerable exchanges between human beings.