Dilek Sayedahmed grew up and went to an American high school in Izmir, Turkey. She received her Bachelor’s in economics and mathematics from the University of Virginia. After working for two years at Ameriprise Financial, Inc. in Charlottesville, VA, as a financial planning associate, she was ready for a new challenge.
Dilek moved to Montréal to pursue a Master’s in economics at McGill University. During her graduate studies, she realized how much she enjoyed policy-oriented research and decided to continue with a Doctorate in economics. Inspired by the micro theory and algorithm design work of Dr. Szilvia Pápai, Dilek continued her graduate work at Concordia University.
After obtaining her Doctorate, Dilek became an Associate Researcher at the Gender and Diversity Group in Montréal, which is an inter-university research and consulting institute with a diverse group of economists, sociologists, inclusivity advisors, and local entrepreneurs. Between 2020 and early 2022, Dilek worked as a Senior Economic Policy Fellow at the British Columbia Ministry of Health’s Partnerships & Methodologies Branch in Victoria, BC.
Dilek is a big Rebecca Solnit and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie fan, an avid reader who loves reading a book each week and enjoys novels and non-fiction that center equity-denied groups and issues on race and gender. Dilek is also a runner who runs a marathon every year.