Meet a Boston Mom :: Demet Dulkara of Derin Adaptive LLC

March 29, 2021

Meet Demet Dulkara, founder of Derin Adaptive!

Moms don’t get the recognition they deserve! As a business run BY local moms FOR local moms, Boston Moms is excited to showcase the hard work local moms are doing – both at home and in their professions.

Boston Moms is proud to feature Demet Dulkara for this “Meet a Mom Monday!” Demet is a mom of one and the founder of Derin Adaptive. Join us in celebrating Demet and the important contributions she makes at home and at work!

Name: Demet Dulkara

Business name: Founder, Derin Adaptive LLC

Children: Derin Sahin, 5 years old

Hometown: I immigrated to the U.S. in 2017 from Turkey because of my daughter’s medical needs. Derin suffers from Angelman syndrome, a rare and complex genetic disorder that primarily affects the nervous system, and I did not have access to the necessary medical care back in my home country. Through my research, I came to the decision that I had to move to Boston to provide her with the medical attention she needs. It was a very long and hard journey to move to Boston and build a life here, but that is another story!

Favorite local restaurant: Anatolia in Brookline and Vicki Lee’s in Belmont

Favorite local business or brand: Growing Up Children’s Resale Boutique in Belmont

What is your favorite kind of self-care? I love to wear makeup, and I also enjoy dressing up.

What is one piece of advice you’d offer another working mom: Motherhood is difficult under all circumstances. I recommend that you take time to check in with yourself and slow down if you’re feeling overwhelmed.

Tell us a bit about your company. What prompted you to start this business? I founded Derin Adaptive in 2019. My daughter, due to her developmental delays, cannot eat by mouth and uses a feeding tube, also known as a G-tube. The tube is inserted into her stomach, and she is also incontinent so she needs to be diapered. Therefore, as she grew bigger, it became very hard to find clothes that worked for her. One day, I visited my friend, Elif. My English back then was very limited, and I asked her to help me purchase some adaptive clothing. Elif saw that there were very limited adaptive clothing options for tube-fed kids, and also they were very expensive. The seed of our company was founded that day. We rolled up our sleeves, invited Leyla, who is now taking care of the design and manufacturing in Turkey, to join us. We had a prototype in a few months, registered our company, then started manufacturing and selling on our company’s website and on Amazon.

What about your work is the most fulfilling? We founded our company to provide safe, comfortable, fun clothing for kids with special needs at affordable prices. Whenever a parent of a special needs child contacts me to thank us for our work or shares a photo of the child playing comfortably in our adaptive bodysuits, I feel very happy.

What is the one thing that surprised you most about motherhood? Before becoming a mom to a child with special needs, I did not have the slightest idea how many enormous challenges moms of children with special needs face. I hope adaptive lifestyle companies become more mainstream and make the lives of both caregivers and their children easier.

What other women inspire you? My teammates, Elif Sisli Ciamarra and Leyla Toprak Gursu, have always excited me and given me strength. Elif is a professor and Leyla is an architect. We all have very different backgrounds, and it is amazing how well we work together and support one another. We’ve learned so much while founding and running our company!

Is there anything else we should know about you or your work? I am continuously working on new designs based on the feedback I receive from caregivers of special needs kids. If your readers have suggestions for new kinds of adaptive clothing, they can get in touch with me at [email protected].