About Piyale

Piyale was born in Ayvalık, Turkey but also lived in Istanbul as a child. Shortly after getting married she came to the United States in 1975 for graduate school at UCLA and UC Berkeley, earning her Master’s degree in Linguistics. She lived in San Francisco shortly but appreciates the greenery and weather in Seattle. After changing interests she pursued a career in psychology and earned both an undergraduate degree and doctorate in psychology before becoming a neuropsychologist and a psychoanalyst. She found it important to teach her daughter, Esra, Turkish and enjoyed bringing her on trips to Turkey when she was younger. She has been involved in the Turkish-American community through her work as a psychoanalyst and has made a variety of Turkish friends. Although she feels Seattle to be her true home, she identifies as a Turk living in Seattle and sees Turkey as another home of hers.