Famed for founding the "Daughters of Ataturk" awards, Sema Karaoglu was born on the Island of Cyprus back when it was still a British Crown Colony. She moved with her parents to the United States as a young child.   

Following the footsteps of her mother, Leman, who was very active in rekindling the almost defunct local Turkish-American club, Sema also became active in the club at an early age and continues to this day.   Years later in the 70's, as the local club was incorporated as an Association, Sema was instrumental in translating the original bylaws from Turkish to English.  After briefly serving as regional VP with ATAA, she now devotes her time to Daughters of Ataturk and continues to be active with many other Turkish American associations.   Sema is married to Arthur Osman and has two children, Kara and Osman.

Founded in 1999, Daughters of Ataturk's mission is to globally promote Turkish women and foreign spouses of Turkish men, whether they are professional career women or stay-at-home moms.  While Sema proudly admits that many Turkish-Americans are professionally successful and are active members of the societies they live in, their Turkishness or Turkish identity is not always apparent.  She knows that nurturing a community of like minded people, and keeping this network of people that share a common heritage connected together is just as important.  This has been the primary founding vision behind the successful Daughter of Ataturk organization.