Feyza Tamer
Feyza Tamer graduated from Boğaziçi University in 2003. She did her MBA in 2007 at IE Business School in Spain. She started her career in 2003 as a Data Analyst Management Trainee in BBVA Garanti Bank in Turkey, then she moved into Digital Channels & Marketing field in Retail Banking and took managerial roles in the same institution. She joined ING in Turkey in 2012 as responsible for Digital Channels Marketing and Sales. She moved to the Brand & Marketing field and became responsible for all marketing and corporate communication activities. Feyza joined in Global Branding team in 2020 and has been leading the Global Brand Management and Marketing Communications team at ING Group since April 2021, based in Amsterdam. She is married and has one child.
“Move on, you’ve got this.”
Q&A WITH FEYZA
When and why did you decide to study at IE?
Back then, I thought the US was too far off to spend some years there. I was focusing more on Europe. I was also into learning Spanish; Spain was more under the radar for me. I had a couple of other opportunities in Europe, but at IE I had the diversity scholarship. I had a better incentive to move (to Madrid), and I knew that it was a pretty diverse and international environment, so that's why I chose IE.
In what ways do you think the IMBA changed your life, professionally and personally?
The IMBA was a challenging program, it's an intensive program. I think that the main challenge for me was to take the extreme diversity around me, which is super valuable when I reflect on it. Also, the speaking up culture. These two things for me were completely pulling me out of my comfort zone. I remember the pain then, and I also know how this pain made me grow and helped me develop myself and become much more ready for the professional life. I was still reflecting on some moments that I had here at IE in the professional life. I could say these two dimensions, truly owning your view, being yourself; and accepting all others and the differences around you, really changed my life.
What was networking like during the program?
It’s like you don’t need to spend extra effort to network, because you are naturally part of a great network. It’s not like every week you go there, show up for two hours and then leave. It’s literally days and nights. From challenging moments like case studies discussions, presentations, and all that, to the great parties. You spend lots of time with these people and then you organically connect and bond, and you become true friends. There were more than 10 people from the program at my wedding, and I can’t remember how many weddings I went to right after the program. I went across different countries. It’s true friendship.
What’s the importance in maintaining close ties with your peers and engaging with the IE community?
Today, we can ask each other any question about our professional life, when we have a challenge, when we have an opportunity, when we have a dilemma. It's like an extension of your family, and you can talk about anything if you have the trust.
Have you found IE alumni in the Netherlands?
Yes. When I first moved to Amsterdam, I reached out friends from IE. I knew that there were some gatherings and social events around IE. I found IE people at ING being my colleagues there. It's just a great first conversation starter because we shared so many things, although we didn't know each other by then. It's like coming from the same village.
Can you tell us about your journey working for ING, from starting as a sales analyst to becoming the head of global brand and marketing communications? What key experiences or accomplishments have shaped your career progression?
I think the journey has been marked by ING’s culture, which is very similar to the culture at IE in terms of diversity, openness, and all that. That made my life easier because the company is so open to providing different sorts of opportunities to employees. I was so lucky to have these leaders seeing me with a better fit, seeing me in another role that I would contribute even more. They saw it in me. I think that’s something about the culture and the leadership style of the company that's so open and flexible. You can easily change tracks. I started as a data analyst and then I went to digital trends; this is how I entered ING. But then, I had these opportunities involving marketing, then it expanded to corporate communications, and it just evolved. But it’s about the company’s culture. There are endless opportunities in the company, and in different roles you can feel like this is a different company. People stay long at ING because they experience different sorts of roles.
Moving from Turkey to the Netherlands for a global role must have presented unique challenges. Could you share some insights into your experience and how you navigated the transition, both from a personal and a professional perspective?
I think the biggest challenges were not about the hard skills or how much you know your thing. The biggest thing is more about the setting, the social interactions, the cultural cues. Of course, the Netherlands is a completely different culture from my home country, but also it is not just the Dutch culture, for me it was kind of easy to zoom out a bit and try to spot the differences and at least be aware of it. So that’s how I cope with these challenges. I try to maximize my awareness and understand what is really there, what the intention is.
What are your two cents for IE students beginning their marketing careers, as well as for experienced IE alumni interested in transitioning into the marketing sector?
I think, for me, the most important thing for marketing communications is keeping the essence in their mind. By essence I mean insights gathered from different people, this is the main objective. Marketing has always been a beautiful combination of art and science, and the objective has always been influencing people’s minds. I would just ask my dear friends marketers to keep this in their minds, whatever happens in this crazy world in terms of technology and everything, they can be open and curious to learn it, but use them more as enablers without losing the focus from the essence of what marketing is.
How do you manage to strike the right balance of creativity whilst ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements of the banking industry?
I think the magic of this balance, not just in our industry–in our industry we have “x, y, z” regulations, in other industries they have “a, b, c”, that’s always there– but I think the key in terms of successful brand and marketing communications is more about bringing people together, and that lies in leadership. We need to be aware that we have a balance and a good mix of people. We will have a number of nerds, but we will also have the dreamers with the creative ideas. And we need to make sure that we have a great set up of external resources—agencies are a big part of our game, of course. From media agencies to creative agencies, to analytics, to insights, everything; we need to make sure that we are working with top notch resources, externally and internally. So, the mix of resources and the mix of profiles is the key.
How do you stay updated on the latest trends in your line of business?
Our agencies are big resources we rely on to bring an outside perspective. But for us, as a team, trying to stay connected with the industry and the outside perspective is our number one priority. To digest and understand what is going on. Also, of course, to get inspired.
What can alumni within the IE Community do to create an impact and support education?
I think staying connected. Sharing is the number one priority. Because this is a lifetime journey, and I would advise them to take it as a lifetime journey, it doesn’t have an end date. Also, giving back. As they experience more, they will have more to share with the community. That’s an amazing thing to do. And in the outside world, they still have great potential to have an impact, whether it’s climate change, societal issues… these fields, these expertises are great vehicles to create influence and really change some habits, behaviors. They need to, I think, keep that in mind.
What’s your measure of success?
Impact. It can be small or big. Whatever the objective is, it can be internal within work teams or with employees, or can be external, for example with a campaign. But my definition of impact and success is also when it’s a big teamwork with a lot of passion, it’s a great energy and that is also part of my success criteria.
How is the Feyza of today different from the Feyza who graduated from IE?
I was a bit shy when I was in the program. There’s this classmate who told me “I’m amazed and proud to see how you’ve transformed.” So, apparently, I did transform, and I’m different from that version of myself. But I think it is more about confidence, not about being perfectionist, but more about being yourself.
If you had a billboard that you could display to the world, what would you write on it?
I would say just move on, you’ve got this.