Burcu Kutlu: Women should be brave

“She is an entrepreneurial woman who wants to build a community where people can heal by touching each other.”

Burcu Kutlu graduated from the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2018. She thought that she would find a job easily after graduation, but it was not to be. First, she started working in a school and experienced other field besides nutrition/dietetics. Management, organization, social media… She took part in each of them. “I realized my own power there,” she says.

She left the school and started a business first with her partners and then on her own; she opened a wellness center. Those who came to her business left satisfied and she had a business that was able to pay off the loans she took when she started her business, pay her expenses and make a profit. She was eager to make more of a name for herself. On February 3, 2023, a billboard advertisement appeared on the busiest street in Antakya. She excitedly went and took a photo of it! “When I saw the billboard, I felt for the first time that I had accomplished something. I cried with happiness!”

On February 6, that billboard was one of the few things left standing on that street.

The workplace was badly damaged in the earthquake. The walls of the office were blown out from the outside. She had her devices and computer in her office. A few days after the earthquake, she took what she could salvage. She placed the equipment in the garden of their house. “We couldn’t even find a tent for ourselves, it was not possible to take the devices indoors. They stayed there for 4-5 months.”

In the earthquake, she lost the business where she earned her income, but the loans she had taken out to start her business were due for repayment and she wanted to be back at work. She looked for a place in Adana and Mersin; “I realized I couldn’t leave this place, so I went back to my hometown. I wanted to do a master’s degree and then a doctorate, but I felt indebted to this place.”

With the support of her father, she reopened her business in a container on olive grove land. Her priority was not to make money, she wanted people to come and chat and support each other. She believed that everyone who experienced the earthquake needed time to recover psychologically. She still strives to make her business a center where people are welcomed with a smiling face and can chat with pleasure whether they buy a service or not.

When she saw mavikalem’s advertisement, she was impressed by the idea of receiving applications by letter and having a space where she could explain her process without long lists of documents. “I told everything in my letter with an emotional closeness. Still, every meeting we have is just as intimate, explanatory and informative. The materials you gave us were like a lifeline! We can do our work with ease.”

Burcu continues to work as a nutritionist at the wellness center. A physiotherapist, speech and language therapist and two psychologists work with her. She says there is a need for more physiotherapy services in the region to support people injured in the earthquake.  People with physical disabilities, broken arms and legs after the earthquake are still recovering and need support.

She thinks it is important for women to support each other. Women who make their own handicrafts (jewelry, hairpins, cakes, etc.) at home have a place in her business to exhibit their work. She states that women’s work allows them not to be financially dependent on one person and is a source of motivation to hold on to life.

Rimma Healthy Living Center, named after her mother, continues to offer dietitian services, reformer pilates, G8 massage, speech and language therapy and individual psychological sessions. mavikalem expanded its range of services with the material support it received from mavikalem. She is able to store the cold materials she uses during the procedures under the right conditions. 

Burcu Kutlu’s social media account: https://www.instagram.com/rimmasaglikliyasammerkezi

“Women should be brave, take steps. when we first step into business, no one is laying roses, but as you put in the effort, you get the return”