Hakan Gursu was born on 1959 in Istanbul. He graduated from Middle East Technical University as first rank student in 1987. He took his master’s degree from Department of Architecture in 1988. Gursu continued his project studies at Japan in 1991 and completed his Ph.D studies in 1996. he worked as consultant on interior architecture and city planning in Moscow and Tokyo. Dr.Hakan Gursu, has been awarded in national and international competitions for several times in the scope of space and product design issues. Most remarkable ones are Pioneers of Design (Japan Industrial Designers’ Association/Japan) and, first rank in several international and national design competitions. He contributed in the design of registered product design in the context university and industry collaboration. Still he is going on his duties as an instructor in the Department of Industrial Design in METU and Designnobis.

Dr. Gursu was was the recipient of the world’s most prestigious design award, the International Design Award (IDA) 2007, for his creation ‘Volitan’, in the category of best nautical vessel and best transportation vehicle of the year.

Website: www.designnobis.com

Pioneering 24-karat gold designer jewelry, Turkish born Gurhan Orhan has introduced to the worlds of fine jewelry and fashion, the palette of warm, yellow, pure gold. Gurhan creates jewelry that becomes an intimate part of a woman’s diverse life, a link between designer and owner. Transcending time and trends, Gurhan makes the jewelry with the transformative power to make a woman feel more beautiful.

An award-winning master goldsmith, his passion for pure gold is born out in his creative approach to the medium, personally designing every piece. In the painstaking process that brings the designer’s vision to life, it acquires a quality of warmth, an intricacy of detail and an individual personality that speaks to the woman who desires, purchases and wears it. Known in the industry by his first name, Gurhan started making jewelery about 15 years ago after he became entranced with the look and feel of a piece of pure gold.

Now his jewelery priced from $500 to $50,000 is sold in the United States, where he lives since 1997, and is making inroads in Europe.

Gurhan, who studied Mathematics and Business Administration at the Middle East Technical University(METU), fell in love with pure gold in 1994 when he was handed a plate of pure gold. “It was love at first sight. I started playing with the piece. But people who knew jewelery told me it was not possible to make jewelery with pure gold because it is too soft” said Gurhan. He studied tools goldsmiths used thousands of years ago which were made of wood, bones and even seeds and has adopted and modified them to make his own jewelery. Gurhan said ancient jewelery remained his main source of inspiration but he also followed modern trends to create four jewelery lines which he calls “things coming from the past”, “my own style”, “fashion” and a recently launched silver line.

About 95 percent of his sales come from the U.S. market but he has not felt a pinch of the consumer pessimism triggered by a credit market crunch and fears of the U.S economic slowdown.
Nor did he suffer from high gold prices which rose more than 30 percent last year and stormed to new record highs in 2008, gaining about 18 percent since the start of this year. His wife Fiona Tilly, who also is the president of his company, said sales rose over 20 percent in 2007.

Due to their accumulated genius - in both business and design - Gurhan and Tilly have grown from a two-person entrepreneurship in NYC to a multinational corporation with nearly 100 people going full steam ahead.

Among his customers are Meryl Streep, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Halle Berry, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.

Website: www.gurhan.com

Robin Saban is the Founder/President of the International Student Film Festival Hollywood.
Mr. Saban began his career in the entertainment industry as a writer and director in Montreal, Canada. He wrote and directed several plays for live theatre while living in Montreal from 1992 to 1996. In Los Angeles since 1998, Mr. Saban worked in the entertainment industry as a film editor and project developer, and co-wrote the film script titled “29 Palms”.

Mr. Saban studied film and theater at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada (1991). In 1997, he studied digital film and video editing software “AVID” at Video Symphony in Burbank, California.

The International Student Film Festival Hollywood which Mr. Saban founded, offers student filmmakers from all over the world a unique opportunity to gain the recognition of film industry leaders, creating career development opportunities in their home countries as well as in the United States.

Website: www.isffhollywood.org

Trained in Switzerland in Hotel Management, Arli has been providing the finest food and elegant service to everyone from Hollywood Elite, to kings, queens and presidents for more than 25 years.

Arli worked for more than two decades for the world famous Chasen’s Restaurant. In this role, Arli had the pleasure of orchestrating the catering service for many affairs and fund raisers for previous and current presidents including the opening of the Ronald Reagan Library, as well as may movie premieres and private parties.

In 1995, Arli opened his own business, Arli’s Exclusive Catering, a complete restaurant on wheels. Arli is celebrating his twelfth year as Arli’s Exclusive Catering, building on his many years of experience.

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Kaya Yanar who was born 10 May 1973 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, is a Turkish-German comedian best known for his comedy show Was guckst du? (Whaddaya lookin’ at?). Yanar’s parents are of Turkish origin and immigrated to Germany. He is famous for the German comedy show “Was guckst du?”, which covers sketches about pretty much every cliché out there. He is the host as well as the main comedian for most of the sketches.

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Born in Ankara, Turkey, 1963.

Graduated from Ege University and in 1986 sold her successful public relations business and moved to London where she has lived since.

In London she set up business and studied Fine Art part-time from 1986 to 2004 where she took various courses amongst others at Chelsea Art School. She is inspired by spiritualism and communication, her work varies from realistic to stylized abstraction and an expression of space.

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