Nilay Örnek, born in Istanbul, began her career at Sabah newspaper, where she worked as an editor for five years during her university education. From 2000, she worked for eight years as an editor and writer at Milliyet newspaper. During her time at Milliyet, she studied at Rutgers University in the USA and later received the Knight Wallace Fellows journalism scholarship.

In 2008, she started working at Habertürk newspaper, where she also wrote a column. She first served as the deputy editor-in-chief and then as the publishing director for the weekend supplements. After that, she became the editor-in-chief of special publications at Akşam newspaper. Following a 2.5-year tenure in this role, she served as the editor-in-chief and writer for Gazetevatan.com for a period. During the same time, she hosted a television program called "City Tables" on Turkmax Gurme (Bien Gurme) for 2.5 years. She also wrote a column for Şık, the daily supplement of Sözcü, for two years.

Shortly after its establishment, she began writing for Kafa Dergisi, first with a column titled "Koleksiyon Kafası" and now with a column called "İyi Şeyler Kafası." She contributes articles and prepares dossiers for various magazines and websites. Recently, she has also been working on a podcast series titled "How to Become?" in collaboration with the audiobook platform Storytel.