You never know which direction life might take you. Aylin (pronounced Ileen) was attending university enrolled in nursing, while at the same time, working part-time as a health care aide and in a call centre as a customer service agent. Then everything changed.
“The call centre’s director of human resources approached me with an invitation to join the team and got me started down a totally different career path that has taken me to where I am today. I’m still helping people, just from another perspective! I guess you could say that I fell into the HR profession by accident because of a part-time, term position as an HR assistant. I fell in love with the work and the joy I feel in helping others,” said Aylin.
Fast-forward to February 2024, and Aylin has joined the MAHCP team as a Labour Relations Officer to support a segment of our membership’s large laboratory technology and diagnostic imaging portfolio.
“I’ve been working in HR and Labour Relations for 18 years, which includes seven years in the health care sector and the last four years in emergency care. Moving into a Labour Relations Officer role felt like the right next step in my career, and MAHCP has a great reputation. The union is dedicated to listening to and supporting its members. It’s important to me to be in a position to champion and take care of others, and I will really pride myself on doing that here with the work we conduct as LRO’s.”
As a busy mom to two soccer-playing boys (ages 12 and 9), Aylin loves spending time with her family, and remains active with hot yoga, boxing and aqua Zumba.
“Family is everything to me. I enjoy parenting my children, who are a beautiful blend of European ethnicities, with my spouse, a proud Canadian-Italian, and we are all very active in the community.”
Aylin’s parents immigrated to Canada just under 50 years ago from Cyprus, and they were disciplined and hard-working. They were dedicated to raising their two daughters to be proud of their diverse heritage: Cypriot Turkish, Cypriot Greek, Iranian, German and Egyptian.
“My father was a large animal veterinarian prior to immigrating to Canada. He practiced for about eight years in Canada, and then switched careers and worked as a first-class power engineer for school division #1 for more than 20 years. My mother was a heavy-duty seamstress for most of her working life, then became a caretaker with the school division. They are both now enjoying retirement, albeit in very different ways. My dad is active while my mom fills her days with heavy and drama-filled Turkish TV dramas.”
Aylin says her parents taught her to embrace the beauty in the differences she possesses, and that they very much influenced the way she treats others.
“They instilled tolerance, patience and kindness, and taught me to treat others with respect and dignity. Being multicultural, I was fortunate to be exposed to all sorts of music, food, religion and travel. I am thankful that I had opportunities as a child and young adult to travel to different parts of the world to meet family and experience different ways of living.”
Although Aylin chose not to complete the nursing degree, she doesn’t have any regrets.
“I changed my path and focused on obtaining a Human Resources education instead. I am a firm believer that things happened for a reason. I was meant to start working towards a career in nursing, as somehow it connected me to my path in HR and Labour Relations. Sometimes, life takes surprising turns.”
