Gozde AVCI

A native of Istanbul (Turkey), Gozde moved to Paris (France) as a teenager and enjoyed a short stint as a professional handball player. Due to her passion for learning, she then decided to pursue higher education in France and excelled in her chosen field of international development.

Gozde has been working in the international aid and humanitarian assistance in the Middle East, Balkans, Central Asia, Caribbeans, Africa and South East Asia since 1998. She speaks English, French, Turkish, Spanish and Russian. She has travelled and occasionally worked in more than fifty countries.

A true adventurer, Gozde has fond memories of crossing the Krygyz Torugart mountains and getting incognito into Kashgar (Chinese Turkistan), tree-hopping for days in the jungles of Laos observing gibbons, sailing across the Greek islands, admiring glaciers on the top of base camps in northern Pakistan, swimming in sulphuric geothermal spa in Iceland, witnessing beautiful sun rises on the top of Nemrut mountain in Turkey with a number of large statues of Greek gods, traditional “banca” boat riding in isolated islands of Philippines, smelling exotic spices in the historical souk of Aleppo (Syria), sleeping in “yurts” on Mongolian steps, cycling in Vietnamese villages in the Mekong Delta, trekking in remote forests of Burundi, tasting buffalo cheese in the Marshlands of Iraq and attending many fun Cuban salsa festivals in all around the world.

It was during her sojourn in Haiti, in 2010, that Gozde caught the fever for all things Latin – especially the people, the music and the DANCE!

Inspired by the nearby culture of Latin America – that she was drawn to Havana, Cuba and the rest as they say is history. Gozde found a natural affinity with the people, culture and music of Cuba and would soon count Havana – as well as New York, Paris and Istanbul – as one of her many homes around the world.

In 2014, Gozde arrived in Erbil, Kurdistan where she currently works in the humanitarian and development field. She had the chance to meet Babylon FM’s one and only Noor as a guest speaker for La French Touch in 2015. Since then she started hosting the Latin Music show El Fasolia every week, which she calls a “life-saving” experience. Gozde left the team in 2019, but still comes to visit from time to time!