Hamdi Ulukaya

The Billion-dollar Man Without a Birthday
 

- Idil Ozer

Hamdi Ulukaya is known in the United States as the man who changed the way Americans do breakfast. It was not until Ulukaya took on President Donald Trump’s travel ban, however, that Americans realized he did more than popularize Greek yogurt. As an immigrant with a global success story, he seeks to leverage that power to help others.

Many immigrants to America start their journey in New York City, where the air smells of exhaust fumes, cheap hot dogs, and opportunity. For the fresh-out-of-college Hamdi Ulukaya, who immigrated to the US in the 1990s and would become the founder and CEO of the $1.9 billion Chobani yogurt empire, the Big Apple oozed with both freedom and anxiety.

The Erzincan native was not always a big fan of American materialism. To the friend who convinced him to go abroad, he said he would never go to “that capitalist place.” Little did he know, he would play a significant role in the society, not only building a billion dollar company, but also helping fellow immigrants launch their own versions of the American dream, as Ulukaya did.

Ulukaya’s life is not as picture perfect as many would think. An entrepreneur humbled by his past, he does not know his exact birthday as he was born during a mountain trek. His American dream also did not start as is often depicted in the movies, arriving via boat with $20 in his pocket. Instead, he arrived to study at the public Baruch College, where his savings ran out fast and he faced a new reality, one of working multiple shifts to get by.