Meet Gülcan Yayla, the 2022 recipient of the Mark S. Wrighton Award for McDonnell Academy Alumni. This award honors alumni whose work reflects the Academy’s core values of international collaboration, impactful leadership, and long-term engagement with the WashU community.
In her conversation with Laura Benoist, director of the McDonnell Academy, Gülcan shares how her experiences at WashU shaped her global perspective, the path she’s taken since, and her advice for Scholars striving to lead with purpose in an interconnected world.
In 2021, Gülcan founded Patika, the final product of her years of work and iterations in the education sector. As co-founder and CEO, she is addressing the gap between the job market and education of millions of unemployed people around the world. By training new talent on Patika’s education platform completely free, companies pay to have their own cohort and access the human capital that they need. The venture was deemed scalable, sustainable, and quick-to-market with profitability and broad impact, leading to Gülcan receiving the Global Impact Award from the Skandalaris Center, the home for WashU entrepreneurship.
Gülcan continues to remain actively engaged with the McDonnell Academy. She was a featured speaker for the McDonnell Academy Alumni panel, providing entrepreneurial guidance, personal development and career direction. Also, as a mentor for the Academy’s Mentorship Network, she shares her professional and personal experience and insight with Scholars, helping to build and foster meaningful relationships among Scholars and McDonnell Academy alumni.
I’ve dedicated myself to solving the large-scale skills gap and unemployment problems affecting millions of people around the world. The status quo makes this very hard, but with the support of the McDonnell Academy and amazing people around me, I’m confident that we’ll make a permanent dent in this world.
Gülcan Yayla