#WeLeadComms: Öykü Altuntaş

Today’s #WeLeadComms honors go to London-based communication leader Öykü Altuntaş.

Öykü is a communications strategist and journalist with a decade at BBC World Service, specialising in turning complex ideas into human-led narratives that land with the right audiences.

Curiosity and storytelling are the constants in Öykü’s career, and aptly, her name means “story” in Turkish. With a background in Sociology and an MSc in Social Research from the University of Edinburgh, her work is anchored in rigorous research and cross-cultural communications in English, Turkish, and French.

During her tenure at the BBC, Öykü held senior roles at the World Service Bulletins desk and the BBC Newshour radio programme. She is particularly known for placing lived experience at the heart of international reporting and communications. Her radio series, Women in Conflict, featured first-hand testimonies that resonated so deeply they remained in circulation for three years. Similarly, her video project on Turkey’s #MeToo movement garnered over a million views and sparked a public debate.

Öykü is drawn to mission-driven organisations, specifically within education, gender equality, and international affairs. Her career in newsrooms, the private sector and academia has allowed her to build a sophisticated network across governments, businesses, global media and civil society. Most recently, she led research communications for Scientific Climate Ratings, a new climate risk venture spun out of EDHEC Business School, building the editorial function, social media presence and content strategy from the ground up.

She is driven to lead communications strategies for organisations where the human impact genuinely matters, while building bridges across cultures and bringing multilingual communications into the room.

Outside of her professional work, Öykü illustrates children’s books, inspired by her six-year-old daughter, and has acted in award-recognised film productions.