Mobile Revolutionary: Sibel Piroğlu

Customer Support Manager, Gram Games

Imagine waking up every morning at 5:00 a.m. to train as an Olympic-level swimmer. Now, imagine that you’re just 12 years old and that you’ll commit to that routine for the next ten years. That’s how Sibel Piroğlu spent her formative years growing up in Istanbul, Turkey. 

At sixteen, she’d go on to compete at the national level, break records in freestyle swimming—in all age categories—and collect medal after medal. By all accounts, this dedicated and disciplined young woman was Olympics-bound.

Unfortunately, competitive swimming, even at this level, doesn’t pay the bills. So, after graduating with a degree in Fine Arts, Sibel changed lanes and began pursuing a Master’s Degree in Sports Management. 

This would get her to the Olympics, not as a swimmer, but as a sports coordinator and then executive assistant for the Turkish Anti-Doping Commission. She’d still take part in the annual Bosphorus Cross-Continental Race, an epic open water swim competition between the European and Asian continents, but with the added benefit of a paycheck at the end of the week. 

Life has curious ebbs and flows, and career paths rarely follow a linear path. While working for the Turkish Olympic Committee, Sibel received a job offer from Gram Games for an executive assistant position. She’d report directly to the CEO in a beautiful office, not far from home, with an award-winning view of the Sea of Marmara. 

So, true to form, Sibel dove in—head-first—to the world of mobile gaming. She started as a newbie gamer and downloaded every Gram Games title she could get her hands on: Merge Dragons!, Merge Gems!, Merge Magic!, etc. As you might suspect, it didn’t take her long to master the games and the job. From there, she quickly pivoted to her current position as Customer Support Manager.

Sibel has settled nicely into a role that serves as a bridge between developers and product managers and players. She’s the woman in the middle with the answers to immediate gaming-related issues and the insight to help product managers improve the overall player experience. In this industry, that’s golden.

This is what excites Sibel. She enjoys making an immediate difference and experiencing the fruits of her labor. Perhaps that long stretch as an Olympic-hopeful shaped her into someone that will always thrive on achievements and results—no matter the sport.

This is by no means the end of Sibel’s career journey. In fact, this marks the beginning of her stretch as a Mobile Revolutionary. Sometimes, in life, the game changes us and sometimes we change the game. In Sibel’s case, either way, she’s going to win.

Want to hear more about how Sibel raises the bar at Gram Games? Watch The Magic Numbers Behind Great Player Experiences, which also features our partners at AppFollow, here.