Today we’d like to introduce you to Nesli Akkol.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am a social entrepreneur and magazine-style blog owner originally from Istanbul, Turkey — where the East meets the West through the iconic Bosporus Bridge. After obtaining my degree in Media and Communications from Istanbul University, I decided to pursue a master’s degree in Marketing, preferably abroad, to gain a more international perspective.
Following a fair amount of research and a myriad of applications, and as a fellow cinephile, I decided to study in sunny and welcoming Los Angeles. Upon my arrival, I was immediately stunned by the City of Angels and knew right away that this eclectic city would become my second home as it was as embracing as its name and the diversity of its people from all walks of life blew me away, reminding me of Istanbul. Additionally, after growing up in a vibrant city by the seaside, I couldn’t imagine living in a non-coastal city and LA offered everything I was looking for: sea and nature, a big film community, diversity, sunshine, city life, top-notch museums, and much more, all in one place.
I’ve always strived to make a living while making a difference and in the last 15 years of my time in Los Angeles (can’t believe it’s been this long, time flies when you are having a good time), I have been using my communication and marketing skills to benefit a multitude of nonprofits and companies through grant proposals and various events including galas, festivals, movie premieres and golf tournaments.
I am also one of the founding partners of the female-led film industry initiative Breaking-the-Third-Wall, which aims to bring the LA Film community and individuals from diverse backgrounds together in a supportive environment with a goal to build special and lasting connections.
All these experiences have been phenomenal so far and they continue to contribute immensely to my growth, but I always knew that I wanted to do more. One of my favorite activities as a kid was creating my own magazine by cutting out pieces and pictures from various magazines and newspapers. I believe, to this day, many of these are still waiting to be rediscovered by me in the dusty shelves of my childhood library at our home in Istanbul. Carrie Bradshaw’s column on the legendary TV show “Sex and the City”, Oprah Winfrey’s lifestyle magazine “Oprah”, and the late and beloved John F. Kennedy Jr.’s financial magazine “George” have always been tremendous sources of inspiration and dream projects for me.
Last year, in light of covid-19’s social distancing measures, I decided to do something magical for my birthday by giving myself the gift of launching my own magazine-style blog. With the help of my dear friend and web designer extraordinaire Ashley McGullam, we worked diligently and announced the arrival of my blog last September on my birthday. This was how “City of Angels with Nesli” was born – encapsulating my journey in Los Angeles.
I feel like media, entrepreneurship and philanthropy have always been in my DNA and I am euphoric to have had the opportunity to create a multi-cultural platform that draws upon all these fields to form meaningful connections, especially throughout the pandemic.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Launching “City of Angels with Nesli” alongside my full-time job as the Director of Development and Marketing for an affordable housing developer in Hollywood has been challenging initially, however, in the long run this experience has equipped me with excellent internal tools and resources to maximize on my time and prioritize accordingly. I realized that most of the time these obstacles are in our head and many of us might have a tendency to function with a mindset of scarcity: “I don’t have enough time”, “I don’t have enough sleep”, “I don’t have enough ___(fill in the blank).
Now I am able to operate from a place of “abundance” and create short yet effective (and even fun) time frames for myself and my projects. For instance, every morning I go on a nice walk in my neighborhood, where I also use a portion of my time to check my emails and Instagram messages for “City of Angels with Nesli” before I start my workday. As you know, Covid-19 also provided us with alternative methods for meetings and these will still remain relevant following the pandemic, providing us with opportunities to save time on our commutes and other time-consuming activities. As a famous Chinese proverb goes “There is an opportunity in every crisis”. We constantly need to evaluate and adapt our perspective to find these opportunities as they are everywhere, and sometimes in disguise, we just know how to look.
We also need to be willing to go through the journey. Jack London was rejected 664 times in his first five years as a writer and he even collected these rejection slips in his room to motivate himself. Before becoming the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln suffered from various issues including depression, a failed business, almost becoming homeless and losing a loved one. Another person in his shoes might have ended up homeless yet Lincoln persevered and eventually became the president. We see the end products of “Jack London” and “Abraham Lincoln”, we don’t see their struggles or unique journeys. We need to embrace our own journeys and proceed accordingly.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
City of Angels with Nesli is a magazine-style blog that aspires to explore the City of Angels through my column and various interviews with an eclectic group of Angelenos, miracle creator nonprofits and small businesses from all industries who do marvelous work in LA – in a way highlighting the “angels” of Los Angeles. It is a byproduct of my multi-cultural perspective and provides a bilingual platform with options in English and Turkish. The concept is similar to what Voyage LA does but my blog is penned from a more individual point-of-view, perhaps with a little bit more of a “Turkish Carrie Bradshaw with a philanthropic edge” approach.
Most LA blogs that I follow usually cover the city through restaurants, shops, museums or other similar experiences, and I wanted to create a more organic and journalism-style blog to explore our exciting city through its biggest asset: the mosaic of diverse people and organizations that make up LA.
Since starting the blog, things have unfolded pretty quickly including partnerships and interviews with individuals from different parts of the world. An online Turkish newspaper also reached out and we are now collaborating to produce various videos, interviews and podcasts. I wasn’t expecting this and starting a project really constitutes 50% of the job. As Adam Smith, the father of modern economy once mentioned “build your project and people will come.”
Following the pandemic, we plan to add in-person events and panels to bring our readers and interviewees together and I am excited to see where this journey will take us next.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
I want to show people that ordinary people can do extraordinary things and I strive to give hope to others. Everyone we meet is an expert in something that we don’t know much about. All people deserve “publicity” and that’s why I started this magazine-style blog – – to give a well-deserved shout-out to LA’s hidden treasures and talents. Discovering other people’s stories and strengths is also fascinating in the sense that it provides us with distinctive tools to understand our own journeys better.
The biggest asset that I capitalize on is when people from different backgrounds, whom otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to meet or collaborate, come together. For instance, one of my readers in New York read my article about the esteemed nonprofit Meals on Wheels West (MOW-West), an organization that delivers free meals to seniors and disabled people in West LA, and she was able to link a senior acquaintance of hers suffering from food insecurity with the local MOW in the NYC area. There is no price tag for that kind of community empowerment or accomplishment. I aspire to be just like my hometown Istanbul, which links two continents (Asia and Europe), by uniting people from different backgrounds so that they can grow together through meaningful connections.
One other thing that I want to highlight is that many of us bring much more value than we think. The majority of people around me don’t realize how much they know or they have done throughout their lives and careers simply because they don’t sit down and think about them. When we take the time to list everything, they are amazed at themselves and their “little” but “collectively big” accomplishments.
As Henry Ford said “whether you think you can do it or not, you are right” and I simply want to show my readers and interviewees that they can. It’s all about perseverance and believing in yourself and your vision. Every small thing matters: volunteering at a nonprofit matters; your brainstorming sessions with your co-workers matter; your chat with your neighbor before your morning walk matters; the short story that you wrote (without showing it to anyone yet) matters. All these interactions and activities build out who you are and every minor thing contributes to your life –whether you realize it or not. Everything is interconnected and they are your guide in the long term.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.cityofangelswithnesli.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cityofangelswithnesli/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cityofangelswithnesli
