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Mel Arat (born in 1971) is Turkish author and speaker. He is well-known for his book “Innovation as a Lifestyle” and his creative, extraordinary approaches in life. He is the author of several books in the field of business and self-help, he has worked as a consultant, coach, and trainer since 1996.

Early Life
On July 12, 1971, Mel Arat was born in Ankara, Turkey. Mel’s parents Gurcan and Bercis Arat worked for Central Bank of Turkey. Mel’s elder brother Agah Arat studied journalism and has his own IT company. Mel Arat studied high school at Istanbul Anadolu Ticaret Lisesi and later founded the alumni society of this school.

Education
Mel Arat was graduated from Istanbul University (1999) and studied Russian Language and Literature. He did his first master’s degree at Dokuz Eylul University in International Business Management (2004). He completed his Small Business and Entrepreneurship Certificate Program at NYU (2005). He studied Enterprise Strategies at MIT (2010). He was a visiting researcher at Laurier University in Canada (2014-2015). Mel Arat also did a master’s degree in Management at  Harvard University (Master of Liberal Arts, 2017).

Career
Mel Arat started his career in Istanbul as a contributing editor and columnist to several magazines and national newspapers in 1993. His first book "Management for 21st Century”was published in 1998. He worked as a consultant, speaker, trainer, and lecturer at the leading universities. He delivered speeches at TEDx, LSE, Congress at Harvard and in very different countries such as Austria, Belgium, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Albania, USA, and Japan. He is the founder of Extraordinary Learning Services Ltd, Startup Academy Cambridge, New York City Books, and Innovation Platforms LLC.

He is known for "Extraordinary Life Skills" training program and the book with the same title. The motto of this program is: Try what you haven't tried before, go where you haven't been before, talk to people that you haven't talked before, and alway discover." His approach to being extraordinary is more about being creative and useful rather than being marginal or just different without adding value. In time, he focused on different domains of personal growth and created programs such as "Second Chance", "Leadership Development by Films", "Financial IQ", "Architecting the Future", "School of Entrepreneurship", and "Extraordinary Story Telling."

Personal Life
He is married to Nilufer Arat, and he has a son named Sanat Arat from his first marriage. He lived in various cities: Istanbul, Izmir, New York, London, Toronto, Boston, and Houston.

Books
External Links

Mel Arat's Blog

Mel Arat's Harvard Blog: