Selen Yilmaz

Selen moved from Istanbul to Glasgow with her 3 month-old baby girl in 2012. As an expat mother, ballet teacher and babywearing consultant she started parent and baby dance classes. Her classes reached 600 families in Scotland within the first 6 months and led her to establish the phenomenal babywearing dance movement with her own baby: Dance with Babies. Inspired by growing demand in her movement, she worked with health, babywearing, and education professionals and developed a safest babywearing dance program and instructor training module which became a leader in the world.

Following her Dance with Babies movement she developed series of programs for toddlers, families, teens, parents, adults and elderly in a multi-cultural, international network. With wonderful team members that has transformed into the global brand and community, JOIMOVE International.

In 2016 Selen co-founded the first International Family Dance Day (IFDD) to spread the beauty of  family dancing together with babywearing dance leaders around the world.

Selen has two books. Dance with Babies: The Babywearing Dance Book co-authored with Paula Dumas and team of Joimove experts. The Dance of My Life: Joyful Decision Making to Come Over Life’s Challenges. 

Selen lives with her daughter Lydia in Glasgow who is also an author with a kind heart. Her joyful book “I Like To Go to The Hospital” is a collection of Lydia’s bright drawings and thoughts from her journal of “funny things” which she started on her cancer ward at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow, Scotland. She says “Parents should be funny and children shouldn’t be afraid of hospitals. Because…” and she is very excited sharing her words and joyful drawings with children around the world and helping them to feel better!