Journalist and producer Atılgan, returned to Turkey following her education in London. She started her career as an executive producer at the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT). In her role as executive producer, Rana produced music magazine programs, talk shows, and documentaries. Presented various concerts to live broadcasts, selected celebrity guests and artists, negotiated contracts, supervised research and script writing, selected and supervised the production staff, and made all executive decisions on the technical and financial aspects of the production.
Programs Rana produced for TRT include :
“Above the Line” (“cizginin Usti”): A music show where Izzet Oz, Turkey’s most famous DJ played popular music video clips;
Interview with well-known British pop artist “Black”.
‘Variations” (“cesitlemeler”): A music show which introduced the audience to various musical trends in the world;
“The Red Crescent” (“Kizilay”): A documentary to raise funds for the Turkish equivalent of the Red Cross;
“The Soup Kitchens” (“Asevleri'”): A documentary depicting life at the soup kitchens’
“Charitable Institutions” (“Yardim Dernekler”): A documentary to introduce and raise funds for major charitable organizations in Turkey;
“Folk Dances of the World” (‘Dunya Folklorundan”): A weekly one-hour documentary series depicting folkloric and traditional dances along with wedding celebrations. Met with the Ambassadors of the countries to be featured for tapes and materials, supervised research and script writing, personally edited the script, supervised the editing of the tapes and readied the tapes for broadcast.
Rana became the first executive producer to be transferred to a privately owned television station in Turkey, Star TV. At Star Tv she continued to produce music magazine and talk show programs. Selected celebrity guests and artists. negotiated contracts, supervised research and script writing, selected and supervised the production staff, found program sponsors and made all executive decisions on the technical and financial aspects of the production. In her role at Star TV, she was awarded “top executive producer” status as the programs produced continuously achieved high ratings. She also organized and produced Star TVs concerts and various cultural activities in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
TV programs produced for Star TV include:
“Guests of the Night” (“Gecenin Konuklan”): A talk show which featured interviews with music, film and theatre stars;
“The Arrival of Wednesday” (“Çarşamba’nın Gelişi”): A talk show, which features live music and dancing along with interviews with rock and pop music stars.
Later on, she transferred to HBB TV, the second privately owned national broadcasting channel, as a director, producer and presenter. Where she started her own program “Extraordinary” (“Siradisi”).
Programs produced for HBB TV include:
“Zodiac” (“Zodyak”): produced and directed the entertainment show on astrological predictions;
“Extraordinary” (“Siradisi”): Developed, hosted and produced the ground-breaking weekly live talk show which achieved the highest ratings in the country on every television station. She selected the guests, supervised the staff, and wrote the script. Made all executive and financial decisions. “Extraordinary” (“Siradisi”) which featured one-on-one live discussion with the political elite of the country, including the President, the Prime Minister, members of the government, and other domestic and foreign politicians along with prominent business people and foreign dignitaries. The interviews dwelled on political and financial issues of the day as well as the personal lives of the guests and were conducted in a cosy atmosphere.
The first guest of the “Extraordinary” (“Siradisi”) program was Mesut Yilmaz, the Deputy Prime minister and leader of the Motherland Party.
Among the guests were President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was the Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor at the time and the Former President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze. This interview was a first for the Former President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze, he discussed his personal life and politics. It was broadcast on Georgian state television.
Rana received the prestigious “Press Award” for her profound achievements.
In 1996, the “Extraordinary” (“Siradisi”) program began to be broadcast live on the TGRT channel. Here, she continued to conduct interviews about personal life politics and business. The same program was broadcast on Flash TV. Notable guests who appeared on “Extraordinary” (“Siradisi”) Flash TV were Dr Üzeyir Garih, Businessperson and co-founder of Alarko Holding and Businessman Adnan Polat, he is the chairman of the board of directors at Polat Holding.
In addition, she worked for 2 years in the social and international arena as the Ankara Embassy Consultant of the Arab Republic of Egypt around the world.
After long years of broadcasting adventures on private channels, Rana returned to TRT, where she first started her career. Here, she took part in various cultural and art programs until she left for New York.
In 2002 she settled in New York where she was the New York representative of the Turkish Newspaper at the United Nations.
She married a businessman.Together with her husband, she ran a textile company and a luxury restaurant for about 10 years in the US state of New York. After losing her husband in 2015, she took on the responsibility of all the affairs. Later, she established an import and export company named Ranamax Global Corporation. In 2019, she founded Star Bistro in New Jersey. Following her business affairs in New York, Rana returned to London and established a new company EllaTrade Consultancy to continue and grow her business.
Rana Atılgan, who speaks fluent English and Turkish.
Rana Atılgan Social Media:
Email: rana.atilgan@ellatrade.co.uk
Instagram: ranaozerginatilgan
Linkedin: Rana Ozergin Atilgan
Youtube– Rana Özergin Atılgan
