Elif Özdemir was born on 25 June 1990 in Ankara; she completed her primary education at ENKA schools and high school education in the IB (International Baccalaureate) program of the Koç High School. After attending the summer school of Columbia University in the years 2006 and 2007, Elif Özdemir also completed her undergraduate education in Columbia University, New York, graduating with a double major in Psychology and Political Science.
She engaged in a large number of social responsibility activities during her high school years; she was the founding president of the Global Awareness Club in Koç High School between 2006 – 2008, and won the Science Fair Participation Award with “The Biodiesel Story, A Medium Scale Photovoltaic Power Plant” Project, which she prepared within the same year.
Her volunteer work focusing on the protection of social and cultural assets, includes activities for the protection of the Safranbolu Houses as part of the World Cultural Heritage and for human-oriented social projects such as LÖSEV (Foundation for Children with Leukemia). She occasionally takes part in daily charitable food assistance activities organized by her family. Along with taking part on a voluntary basis in rehabilitation activities of elderly and vulnerable people at elderly care institutions during each summer, she contributed to the education of students at Sarıyer Primary School by giving them English courses. She also cooperated with the consulate of Japan to provide satellite phones for earthquake victims after the Tsunami disaster.
In terms of environmental awareness, she successfully implemented green flag projects in the tourism industry, as well as working on projects involving power generation from waste. Having held negotiations with the officials of the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for the improvement of environment and sustainable tourism, Özdemir continues to pursue efforts in this field.
A member of the Turkish Student Association at Columbia University during her undergraduate years, Elif Özdemir completed her internship in the media industry at CNN Turk. She is continuing her professional career as the vice chairman of Özaltın Holding (responsible board member for mining) and the CEO of Gloria Sports Arena, the first sports hotel of Turkey, owned by the Holding. Now, she is working with the Gloria Sports Arena sports science team and other renowned professionals in the field to create an athletes’ incubation center and an artificial intelligence-based software that can help monitor athletes’ performance, to aid them in achieving their best.
She is also entitled as the Member of the Board of Directors at Turkish National Olympics Committee (TMOK) and the Turkish Archery Federation. She is a member of the Young President Organization (YPO) and the Consultant of the President at World Federation of Consuls. She became a trustee of BIDEV, a foundation that supports education through the game of Basketball and is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Community; a network of young people driving dialogue, action and change.
