Umami Food & Beverage
İpek Akman Korkmaz
Born in Izmir in 1988, İpek grew up with a challenging mother, a successful textiles executive, and continued her education in Istanbul alongside her mother. After graduating from Sabancı University's Department of Social and Political Sciences, she envisioned herself working in the service industry. Her first job was at the Mövenpick Hotel Istanbul, where she worked in Guest Relations and Concierge.
With the support and guidance of the hotel's Swiss General Manager, he decided to pursue his master's degree in Hotel Management at the Swiss Hotel Management School in Switzerland, considered one of the best hotel management schools in the world.
Deeply nourished by the multicultural environment she gained during her higher education, İpek decided to extend her journey abroad and continued her career in Dubai at The Ritz-Carlton, known worldwide as the school of hotel management.
Following his successful journey in Dubai, he moved to Cairo, Egypt, to open the Restaurants and Bars within the hotel as the youngest member of the opening management team of The Nile Ritz Carlton, belonging to the same brand.
He decided to move to America, a region that brought different perspectives to the service industry, and successfully served as Food & Beverage Manager at the Hilton Hotel Group in Washington DC for 2 years.
After returning to Türkiye for a short while at the end of 2018, he reunited with his life partner and current business partner, Bora Korkmaz, and decided to stay there for a while longer. He began his career as Outlet Manager at The Ritz-Carlton, Istanbul. He soon took over as the hotel's Food & Beverage Director, contributing to the opening of Nobu Istanbul and The Roof, and the renovation of Atölye Restaurant and Bleu Lounge. He also served on the hotel's board of directors, giving him the opportunity to hone his management skills.
After spending 4 years at The Ritz-Carlton Istanbul, Voltron, which he and his life partner Bora jointly created based on their experiences over the years, continues its activities in the Food & Beverage Sector under the name of 'Umami Consultancy'.
İpek is a sports and music enthusiast, and an animal lover. Her hobbies include boxing, kickboxing, and jiu-jitsu, as well as DJing. She and Bora formed the band DJs Cat & Bat, which she also performs as DJs at various events.
She has five cats that she and Bora adopted during their marriage, and she is a mother to many more stray cats.