Gizem Şalcıgil White has been a goodwill ambassador for Turkish coffee culture since 2009 and is the founder of the award-winning non-profit Turkish Coffee Truck initiative. She has been working voluntarily to promote Turkish coffee culture in the U.S. and abroad for the past 10 years. With the support from a dedicated volunteer team from American Turkish Association of DC (ATA-DC), the Turkish Coffee Truck initiative has been bridging cultures through coffee conversations since 2012. Through this cultural diplomacy initiative, more than 20,000 people in the U.S. and Europe was exposed to Turkish coffee for the first time. Gizem’s one-of-a-kind cultural diplomacy project made the headlines of major international publications including The Washington Post, Washingtonian, PRI/BBC and her fans started calling her the “Turkish Coffee Lady”. In 2015, she was honored as the one of the “Top Young Outstanding persons of Turkey” by JCI. Turk of America magazine also awarded her as one of “40 Under 40 – The Most Influential Turkish American” in March 2016. In 2017, she started the first and only authentic Turkish coffee chain in the U.S. with the support of her partners and her dedicated team.