Ayşe Çağlayan Üstündağ

Ayşe was born in 1974 Berlin, Germany. She completed middle and high school in Antalya Koleji on an academic scholarship. She promised to payback her gratitude by serving her community.

Ayşe is a firm believer in active involvement and civic responsibility. She has served as the president of the Law Club in Marmara University. In 1999 after a major earthquake that claimed more than 15.000 lives she co-founded and had served as the coordinator of the DHL Search and Rescue Team for 4 years. She has been actively involved in fundraising efforts for Bridge To Türkiye Fund scholarship projects since 2010. During her BTF WDC leadership she has launched ‘Girls Excel!!” campaign to raise funds and awareness to empower socioeconomically disadvantaged girls in Turkey through education. She has co-chaired International Women’s Day Celebrations that has become an annual event jointly organized by ATA-D.C. and BTF at the Turkish Embassy.

She graduated from Marmara University School of Law and worked at DHL Istanbul for 7 years. In 2003 she got married and moved to United States. She lives in Maryland, is married to Afşin and has two children, Defne and Sarp.