5 Questions with Nilay Ersoy
Nilay Ersoy is a student at Harvard University, double majoring in Government (Data Science) and Economics.
She currently serves as the Global Director of Country Operations at Project Access, where she works to strengthen communication and collaboration across Country Teams and the international team. Nilay’s journey at PA began in 2022 as a mentee applying to U.S. colleges, which inspired her to join as a Mentor and Outreach Officer for Team Germany after her admission to Harvard.
Outside her academic and professional commitments, Nilay is an avid reader, though she admits that college readings often limit her book choices to the holidays!
1. How did you get into your current role at Project Access?
I would like to say that my story at PA is a success story, but possibly a common one at the same time. In 2022, I started as a mentee applying to US colleges and I loved the idea of PA, which is one of the reasons I desperately wanted to get into my dream college so I could join PA.
After getting my acceptance letter from Harvard, I immediately applied to become a mentor and team member. While I had a different role in mind at first, our wonderful CEO Lukas convinced me to apply for Team Germany.
“Being a part of a country team made me passionate about creating a safe culture within PA. “
I saw a disconnect between various country teams and the international team. This led me to apply as Global Director of Country Teams to rebuild a solid bridge of communication between Country Teams and the international team.
2. What is your favourite part of PA?
My favourite part must be the first part of a 1-1 meeting, which is usually just a catch-up between friends before we even dare to talk about work!
3. What’s your favourite cuisine?
Mediterranean and Japanese!
4. Best study tip?
Don’t start the day before and do all of the practice problems!
5. What are some opportunities and challenges in managing PA’s country operations?
“One of the best parts about managing PA Country Teams is being able to work with people from 6 different countries. Each of them have their own way of handling things and culture, which sometimes can be also a difficulty as we all have completely different approaches but at the same time it’s always lovely to see a how implanting ideas from one country to the other, it creates an opportunity to get out of one’s comfort zone and embrace integration.”