7&4 NEWS - UPNORTHLIVE.COM - Businesses from around northern Michigan earned cash prizes this week in the grand finale of a business pitch competition run by the Northern Lakes Economic Alliance.

NORTHERN EXPRESS - Exchange students — students who study abroad to gain new cultural experiences and expand their worlds — often return to the foreign places where they studied to relive memories or visit their host families. But Baris Atmaca of Istanbul, Turkey, took his return a step further: He came back to to northern Michigan to open a business.

NORTHERN EXPRESS 2018 GIFT GUIDE - Socks Kick, the local socks emporium founded by a Turkish exchange student turned East Jordan resident, has a plethora of colorful, warm socks great for anyone and everyone on your list.

PETOSKEY NEWS REVIEW - A venture which Baris Atmaca is pursuing in East Jordan. Socks Kick is establishing U.S. sales channels for socks which Atmaca's family's business produces in Turkey, and he hopes to eventually bring some sock production to East Jordan as well.

PETOKEY NEWS REVIEW — A sock company started by a former exchange student from Turkey took the top prize at the Green Light East Jordan Business Model Competition Wednesday at Castle Farms.

MLIVE.COM - As part of the two-month project, a shoe owned by Josiah Middaugh, an East Jordan graduate and world champion triathlete, was strapped to a weather balloon that was attached to a parachute and a base.

9&10 NEWS: - A former exchange student is bringing his business to northern Michigan. Baris Atmaca and his wife recently started a business called Socks Kick in East Jordan.

PETOSKEY NEWS REVIEW - Turkish couple tapping U.S. sock market via East Jordan. Twelve years after his stay in East Jordan as a high-school exchange student, Baris Atmaca recently returned to the community with a business goal in mind.

TRAVERSE CITY RECORD EAGLE - For someone who has had Rotary International play such an important role in his life, it's no surprise that Baris Atmaca's business career has also come full circle.