Female Disruptors: Fulya Uygun of Bowery Boost On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview with Candice Georgiadis
Don’t be afraid to ask. Many of us, especially us women & minorities, are afraid to ask for more. Or even ask for what we want. I’ve seen this while speaking to female founders or job prospects. There’s no harm in asking. There’s nothing bad about knowing your worth. We might settle for less for a while in some situations, but you shouldn’t settle if you also didn’t even try.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Fulya Uygun.
Bowery Boost co-founder and CEO Fulya Uygun is a digital marketing expert with 15 years of experience. Throughout her career, she has scaled brands through seed funding to Series B in addition to working as lead digital for corporate companies. Her agency works seamlessly to scale direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands and is dedicated to investing in and supporting women and minority entrepreneurs.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I was very fortunate to attend Bogazici University, one of the most prestigious universities in my home country of Turkey. After graduating with a business degree, I began working in Istanbul at the brand marketing department of a large corporation. After about a year, I proved I was ready to take on my first PPC marketing. I fell in love with data and watching customer behavior online, and I knew that was it for me.
I then moved to NYC and attended Baruch for a postgraduate marketing degree to get a better understanding of the digital world. Keep in mind this was back in 2009 when Facebook advertising was at its simplest and only about two years old. At that time PPC & affiliate were the kings of the marketing industry. After Baruch, I pursued my master’s in integrated marketing from NYU, and that’s how everything started. In the last 15 years, I’ve built on my academic knowledge with hands-on experience in fashion & beauty digital marketing. It’s truly my passion, and I love coming to work each day.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Despite the strides women have made socially, economically, and professionally, we still find ourselves taking the backseat in many aspects of business. As a woman who, in the eyes of others, has “made it” in her industry as a founder and CEO, I feel a strong sense of fidelity to uplift other women & minorities professionally. At Bowery Boost, we believe in products and services built by women. Many of our clients are not only women- or minority-owned but also sustainable. We are trying hard to change something that’s broken in this world with something beautiful.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
This was by no means funny at the time, but 10 years later, I have learned to laugh it off and chalk it up to a hard lesson learned. In 2010 I had a vision for a revolutionary jewelry eCommerce business, where my CTO and I built a virtual dressing room for shoppers to “try on” the pieces online. It was unique and cutting edge for the time, and it even earned us a spot as semi-finalists at IBM Smartcamp.
The problem was, we spent all our money developing the AI and buying the merchandise. We ended up with a wonderful, user-friendly site featuring exquisite designer jewelry with no budget left to market it and actually bring in customers. I learned that regardless of how amazing your product or service is, you will fail if you can’t bring in customers or if they don’t know how to find you.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I have found a wealth of comradery, counsel, and support from the women’s entrepreneurial community here in NYC. Organizations like the Female Founders Fund and the 10th House have connected me with other women leaders and have given me a wonderful support network. As a member of the Helm, a women- and minority-only investment fund, I’m constantly amazed by the impact we are making to uplift our communities and help us flourish. Being a part of these organizations helps to motivate me in my own business and in Bowery Boost’s mission to pay it forward to other women leaders.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
I believe disruption in business happens because there’s a need for change. Usually, the examples of disruptive businesses are there to change our lives, and usually for the better. We can look at the examples of Airbnb, Rent the Runway, and Upwork- these businesses provided people flexibility, more income, and cost-effective ways to live their lives. When the disruption happens, the traditional way of business that existed perhaps for centuries feels the heat, and it shows people are inclined to new ways of living when/if it makes their lives more comfortable.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
- Information researched and learned is way more durable than the information you simply asked and listened to. When I was a kid, the internet or widespread computer usage wasn’t really a thing. But we did have a whole bunch of encyclopedias at our homes. Whenever I asked even the simplest question to my dad, he would say “Go and read about it, then come back and tell me what you think. Then I’ll discuss it with you thoroughly.” Most importantly, it helped me build my very own opinions — objective opinions rather than learning someone else’s truths. And second, it taught me to search for answers on my own. I believe that’s a great strength I have even to this day. I can always stay objective and am always comfortable expressing my opinions.
- Don’t be afraid to ask. Many of us, especially us women & minorities, are afraid to ask for more. Or even ask for what we want. I’ve seen this while speaking to female founders or job prospects. There’s no harm in asking. There’s nothing bad about knowing your worth. We might settle for less for a while in some situations, but you shouldn’t settle if you also didn’t even try.
- Mistakes are learning opportunities. Sometimes we need to mess things up to get better in what we do or who we are. I love learning by trying, and there’s no way we can figure it all out on the first go. I always tell our team members that it’s way better for all of us if they first do something on their own than just sit and listen to us teaching. It’s somehow harder to forget about the mistakes we made 🙂 Thus, they can be big learnings we can use to our advantage.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
We are very excited to be launching a new influencer marketing tool that will transform the way businesses connect with influencers on paid platforms. Consumers are ignoring brand ads more and more, and they are engaging with influencer content. There’s a thing called whitelisting that allows brands to run ads through real people’s accounts with authentic content. Our tool, Voysit, is built to provide smooth integration between influencers and brands, track and monitor data more efficiently, and also create more opportunities for influencers to monetize authentic, high-quality content.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
I have faced firsthand how difficult it is to earn access to funding, loans, or credits, and how many no’s women receive compared to male-owned brands. A big message we discuss in the various women entrepreneur communities I’m a part of is how we all know we need to support each other to overcome this disadvantage. We, at least now, started comfortably discussing these issues, and business circles are starting to acknowledge the problem. Eventually, this acknowledgement will result in solutions. We do see that as much as it’s so new and small, change in trends has already started.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
The conversations that I mentioned above that I had with my dad, who was a journalist, were definitely the ones that made me who I am, and they shaped how I learn and grow. I’m always objective, will always search for the source of the truth, and am never afraid of sharing my opinions. I read a lot, research a lot, enjoy learning, and I am always up for a debate. That’s what got me to NYC from a small town in Turkey. It got me to have a great education and become an entrepreneur and supporter of many causes that I truly believe in.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Especially in today’s political and social climates, it’s more important than ever to challenge gender roles and our preconceived notions about gender stereotypes. Not only in business, but also in life, by reconsidering long-held ideologies, we can uplit all genders or everyone or every person.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Optimist: Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster; it’s a cha-cha.”
I’ve — like many people — failed many times, both in business and in everyday life. A positive outlook in life is what keeps us going and keeps us trying. I’ve always believed, as long as you try again, and you try smarter, you will get to where you need to get. Just like in life, in marketing we do need to understand there are many trials and errors before success. And even when we get there, there will always be some failures. We need to learn to fail in order to grow.
How can our readers follow you online?
Entrepreneurs, marketers, and strategists can check out our blog where share and discuss the latest marketing trends and strategies: https://boweryboost.com/our-blog/
You can connect with us on social media via Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boweryboost
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boweryboost/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bowery-boost/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Female Disruptors: Fulya Uygun of Bowery Boost On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.