Sila Avcil was born in Iowa and raised between the United States and Turkey throughout her life. She is a first-generation dual citizen, Turkish-American. She attended high school in Turkey and moved to New Mexico to pursue her college education. Sila is an alumnus of the University of New Mexico (UNM) with her Master’s in Political Science. She completed her BA at UNM as well, where she double majored in International Studies concentrating in Conflict, Peace, and Diplomacy, and Foreign Languages concentrating in French and German. Sila Co-Founded the Global Shapers Albuquerque Hub, an initiative of the World Economic Forum, where she leads an annual Get Out The Vote (GOTV) project. She is also the Executive Director of New Mexico Open Elections, a nonprofit organization encouraging election reform, rewarding coalition building, and problem solving among elected officials by ensuring that all eligible citizens can exercise their right to vote in every public election.