Hi! Merhaba! I’m Semiha.
I’m Director of Product Marketing at WordPress.com. I own global growth and monetization strategy for SaaS products serving millions of users across 16 languages and multiple currencies, in both self-serve and assisted sales motions.
I set the bets on pricing, packaging, lifecycle, and how we take products to market. I run the experimentation agenda that turns opinions into evidence. I bring AI-powered launches and other monetized products to market across regions, and align Finance, Data, Product, Engineering, Sales, and Automattic for Agencies on what we ship and why.
Industrial engineering at Bilkent built the foundation: systems thinking, working under constraints, breaking complex problems into decisions. From there, five years across pharma at Pfizer, telecom at Türk Telekom, consulting at Accenture, and defense at Roketsan. An MBA at Sabancı sharpened the commercial and strategic lens. I moved to Toronto in 2018, joined Automattic, built across product marketing and growth, and now lead global monetization strategy for WordPress.com as Director of Product Marketing.
Outside the day job, I write. Poetry, essays about the work, a book in progress. I cook, spend time with my family, and nerd out about brain health. Some of it shows up here.
A few things I keep coming back to
- Lead with the why before the what
- Positioning is the foundation. Messaging is what stands on it
- Open source is vital. It’s how the ecosystem grows and how communities stay strong
- AI amplifies everything. The strategy still has to be yours
- Storytelling turns information into emotion
- Distance from the customer is the most expensive thing
- Stay curious enough to keep being wrong about things
Media kit
Professional photos and bio for press, speaking, and podcast use. Coming soon.