I am Turkish-American, and I have always lived between those two worlds.

I grew up in Boston, but spent my summers in Kemer with my Turkish family. From a young age, I bonded with the natural world while exploring my grandfather's farm in the Taurus Mountains and New England's forests. As I grew older, I became more and more determined to preserve the richness of my identities and of the natural world.

I have been selected for a six-month internship with the UN Development Programme's Bureau for Policy and Programme Support in Istanbul, where I will work on BIOFIN — UNDP's flagship initiative helping countries design and fund effective biodiversity strategies. I will also serve as a joint intern with the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Network (BES-Net), a capacity-sharing network of networks focused on bridging the science, policy, and practice sectors in implementing the recommendations of the IPBES Assessments.

Specifically, I will:

This position takes me farther along the path I began as a student of Environmental Science at the University of Vermont, and then as a Master's student studying sustainable agriculture at McGill University, from where I graduated this past February. Along the way, I interned with the UN Secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity — an experience that left me hungry to understand how finance can be mobilized to protect the natural world. I left that internship with more questions than answers, but a clear sense that I wanted to explore the intersection of nature conservation, climate finance, and global biodiversity policy.

Now I get the chance to explore that sweet spot further in a city where I have begun to put down roots. Last summer, I attended Nazim Hikmet Camp in Istanbul, a Bridge to Türkiye Fund project dedicated to fostering intercultural dialogue among youth. I intend to come back and develop workshops that build young people's capacity to advocate for the environment and engage in the international relationships that feel more urgent than ever right now.

This internship can, without exaggeration, fulfill my dream of having a career in nature policy & finance and bringing it home to Türkiye.

But I need your help to take it.

The UN stipend of $300 per month is not enough to live on; rapid inflation in Türkiye means that the average rent is now around $550. As a recent graduate, I no longer have access to my university's resources, and this opportunity came quickly and did not align with external funding cycles. You are my last resort.

If I cannot raise the funds I need, I will have to turn down this position. I refuse to let that happen without trying everything first. If I raise at least half my fundraising goal by the end of the month, I will have what I need to get started.

Whatever you can give — whether it's a donation, a share, or a connection to someone who might help — brings me one step closer to Istanbul, to the UN, and to the career I have spent years preparing for. All public donors will receive monthly postcards, no questions asked (other than "what's your address?").

This is my moment. I hope you'll be part of it.