Colombo

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Born and raised in postcolonial Sri Lanka, I started out at 19 in the early 90s in pharma marketing at Hoechst Ceylon, and decided to be a lawyer. As the university entrance was delayed by two years due to militant insurgency in southern Sri Lanka, I entered Law College and worked while studying as an ad agency copywriter at Grant McCann-Erickson and Phoenix Ogilvy. I worked in public administrative law, criminal appellate and supreme court fundamental rights appeals. ​​​​​​​​​​​​I then left the courts to join the leading industrial garment manufacturer MAS holdings outside the capital in rural Sri Lanka.

 

I worked on cross-cleaving corporate governance policy document for HRD/Legal I called the Little Red Book among other initiatives. It was an embedded participatory lived experience on socioeconomic realities of rural employment and gender empowerment outcomes for the family unit resulting from expectations of stable source of monthly income provided by industrial investment. The exposure and ease of handling state-of-the-art Victoria's Secret, BHS, Marks & Spencer, Gap and other brands, meeting stringent international standards with a commitment and competence level was insightful. I left Sri Lanka as the long civil war deepened with no hope of seeing peace in the motherland in our lifetime.