2023 has barely started but Guinness World Records are already unveiling some of the year's newest record holders.
One of the new standard bearers is an accomplished woman who works as a web developer and an activist.
But the thing she's most famous for is her height: seven feet tall.
Rumeysa Gelgi was born in Turkey on New Year's Day, 1997. According to Guinness, she is diagnosed with Weaver Syndrome — a mutation that causes giantism — early in life.
Rumeysa was already on the Guinness Radar as early as 2014, when she was confirmed as the tallest teenage girl in the world.
Rumeysa's Instagram chronicles her travels. Her condition is so rare that she's only the 27th person in history known to have Weaver Syndrome.
Rumeysa had always wanted to get into web development, and during the pandemic, she took correspondence courses.
"Now I'm an aspiring self-taught front-end developer who has two professional certifications from two different global institutes," she says.
Some giantism disorders cause people to keep growing and growing which can shorten their lifespan. In Rumeysa's case, her condition has stabilized to the point where she's no longer growing. It's important for her to follow a physiotherapy and swimming regimen in order to keep her body healthy.
While Rumeysa is living her life to the fullest, she acknowledges that it's been a difficult journey at times.
"I didn't have any friends because I was so different to [other] children my age, but I made it," she said.
"My parents were the biggest support and I had amazing teachers."
If you look at Rumeysa's Instagram, it's clear that she made a recent trip to Silicon Valley — a 14-hour plane trip from her native Turkey.
How did a seven-foot-tall woman manage? She says that travel would have been impossible if Turkish Air hadn't made special arrangements for her — in this case, setting up a stretcher across vacant seats.
Rumeysa is an advocate not just for her ultra-rare medical condition, but also for body positivity, in general. The Guinness recognition will surely help her in this journey.
It's almost impossible to believe, but according to Guinness, she's a full foot short of the all-time women's record.
That record was held by Zeng Jinlian, an 8-foot-1 woman who passed away in 1982.
