2020
Chiranthi Senanayake
- Age: 27
- | She/her/hers
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Every human being has a birth responsibility to impact lives and empower others. Such a responsibility doesn't mandate one to create large scale change or to adopt activism labels. It is bringing a smile to those within your immediate reach so that you are part of something bigger than yourself.
- Chiranthi Senanayake
Bio
Chiranthi Senanayake was born and raised in Sri Lanka. She received a Bachelor of Laws from University of London in 2019. As People and Culture Executive at Cyril Rodrigo Restaurants Private Limited, Chiranthi develops, maintains and supports a business partnership with the operations teams, serving as an employee advocate, cultural ambassador, subject matter expert, and consultant. In this capacity, she is also responsible for the recruitment and staffing of the company. As Founder and President of HYPE Sri Lanka, she serves an umbrella role over various departments and oversees that the incubator is functioning in line with the vision determined by the boardof Directors.
Additionally, Chiranthi is Founding President of the Young Legal Professionals Association of Sri Lanka and a Consultant and Advisor for Citizens, Secretary General of The International Model United Nations.
What ignited your pursuit for gender equality?
In 2009, I was selected to work with the Sri Lankan Army to conduct self-development training programmes for former LTTE women soldiers living at a rehabilitation centre in Mullativu. This experience fueled my interest to work in youth development, with a special focus on gender equality amongst the youth.
Please share your biggest wins as an advocate for gender equality.
I spearheaded HYPE Sri Lanka team to establish the HYPE Policy Tank, which is an independent volunteer run think tank dedicated towards facilitating the youth policy formulation cycle of Sri Lanka and which discusses policy level support for gender and sexual equality in Sri Lanka. I also led the HYPE Sri Lanka team to initiate "Project Nexus," which registers youth organizations across Sri Lanka, and facilitate cluster based partnerships, on areas such as gender equality, human rights advocacy and women participation in politics.
Outside of your gender equality advocacy work, what do you enjoy doing?
In my spare time, I write and maintain a blog. I am in the process of writing a novel titled "On the Shores of Serendipity" which revolves around the life of a young woman in Sri Lanka who feels trapped between two cultures, her Sri Lankan identity and the global Western culture. I am also the Co-Founder of a budget lifestyle blog called "Broke and Blogging" which captures the essence of living life on a budget. I am also laying the foundation to start a YouTube Channel called the "Two Cents Show" where I discuss contemporary socio-economic and political issues from a rational and intellectual standpoint.
Languages Spoken:
- English (Advanced/Native)
- Sinhala (Advanced/Native)
- Hindi (Elementary)
- Tamil (Elementary)
- Sinhala (Advanced/Native)
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