Hiruni Wijeratha, South Asia’s fastest female marathoner, a 29 year old, Sri Lankan-American Champion, a long distance running athlete who has kept the Lion Flag flying high victoriously before the world many times. Born in Kirulapone, Sri Lanka, Hiruni attended St. Bridget’s Convent, where she began her journey as an athlete. Even though her athlete career blossomed in the U.S, her gleaming desire was to compete as a Sri Lankan athlete. In order to represent the Sri Lankan Sports Selection Committee, she ran her first Marathon in which she shattered the previous national records. Today, she is the South Asia’s Fastest Female Marathoner. She is also the first Sri Lankan to qualify for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Athletic Championship. Marathoner Hiruni Wijayaratne clocked 2 hours 43 minutes and 31 seconds in the Eugene Marathon when she crossed the finish line as first female and 11th overall
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Matthew Duncan Abeysinghe, born 19 March 1996 is a competitive swimmer who has represented Sri Lanka at numerous international competitions. Abeysinghe trained under his coach and father, Manoj Abeysinghe, with Killer Whale Aquatics, until his departure for higher education, where he resumed his training at Ohio State University in the US. Abeysinghe is regarded as the greatest swimmer and one of the most accomplished athletes Sri Lanka has ever produced. Abeysinghe started swimming when he was three years old alongside his older brother, Andrew. He has been quoted, saying he started swimming merely for water safety, not to compete. Over the course of his career, Abeysinghe has achieved numerous accolades, including; international medals, national records, national championships, and several national awards. Abeysinghe is considered the greatest athlete in South Asian Games history. He is also the most decorated; winning a total of 14 gold medals, two silver medals, and one
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Rukshan De Silva, The Waterloo alumnus, was named Australian Young Planner of the Year, recognising emerging leaders for outstanding contributions to their field. Among Rukshan’s many achievements, Planning Institute Australia lauded his commitment to innovation in the workplace, his collaboration with communities and government planners, and his volunteer contributions, including strategic land use planning in Peru and involvement with PIA’s National Settlement Strategy Team.  Rukshan currently works as a principal planner at the New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment, where he’s leading the design of Australia’s most extensive ski town. Rukshan has always been a community man — volunteering his time to give back to his community in any way he can — something that’s continued since his elementary school days. Growing up, he was also very creative and interested in design. Put design and community together, and that’s the sweet spot, so designing communities for a living
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Amith Boteju, you may know as “AmithWorldWide” from all of his social media, is a young, dedicated, and energetic Sri Lankan entrepreneur and a talented musician with a vision to take Sri Lanka to the global arena not only with his music but also with his business and innovative ideas. Raised in a middle-class Sri Lankan family, he has deep roots in Sri Lanka, which drives him towards his passion for making a global impact on his motherland for its betterment. He is a world-renowned musician who performs with International music icons like Akon and Ne-Yo. Today he has his fashion line, “Born in Sri Lanka,” established in Los Angeles. In addition, this young individual has launched a project to solve the energy crisis in Sri Lanka by introducing renewable energy with Akon, who successfully completed a renewable energy project in Africa that lit over a million rural African households.
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Talin Silva was born in Burbank, California, on October 23, 2001. She lives in Los Angeles, California and is the daughter of Nalin and Gillian Silva. She has a younger sister named Kaylan Silva. She has been performing for the Sri Lanka Foundation International since she was seven. Talin has walked the runway at New York Fashion Week for CHICK FASHION and modelled for many brands, including Claire’s, Sherri Hill PromGirl, Fashion Nova, juicy contour, Macy’s, and many others. Talin’s notable TV work includes 24, private practice, children’s Hospital, Jessica Darling It List on Netflix, Webheads on Nickelodeon, and Guest rolls on Disney. Also, Talin is a professional dancer who is represented by one of the country’s top agencies, Blocla. She has danced for the Oscars and Kids Choice awards and many A-list artists such as Justin Bieber, Mary J Blige, and many more. Talin is actively working on releasing
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On June 5th, the Sri Lankan Youth Organization and Project POH teamed up to hand out school backpacks filled with essential school supplies, toys, and duffle bags to the youth of the San Fernando Valley. The operation took place at Magaly’s Tamales and Mexican Grill and was a success yet again. There were many generous donors involved that helped make this event a success. Kinecta Credit Union provided volunteers to help pack and hand out backpacks. They also distributed goodie bags and free ice cream to the community. Yasiel Puig’s Wild Horse Foundation gave out baby formula to underprivileged families, the Boys and Girls Club provided volunteers, and Team Rugby LA donated funds toward the event! A huge thank you to all the volunteers of SLYO, we couldn’t have done it without you all! Thank you! This event, apart from providing resources, was about creating personal connections with community members.
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Nirosh Mataraarachchi was born and raised in Los Angeles, California to immigrant parents, Piyal and Janitha Mataraarachchi. Starting from his early childhood and beyond, Nirosh cultivated a passion for teaching, a desire to connect with others, and an understanding of social determinants of health. As a future physician, Nirosh intends to connect with each patient to first understand who they are as people and what other factors in their life are contributing to their diagnoses. He hopes that by meeting the diverse needs of his patients, he can then empower them to make informed decisions. Today, Nirosh has accomplished great feats and achievements. Nirosh graduated John Burroughs high school at the top of his class in 2016 and was granted several acceptances to universities throughout the U.S. Nirosh attended the University of California, (UC) San Diego, due to its highly ranked Biology program (#1 in Neurosciences at the time), the
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Sen. Kamala Harris is making a key staffing change ahead of a holiday season in which she’ll be mulling a decision on a presidential run. On Monday, Harris announced Rohini Kosoglu as her new chief of staff. Kosoglu, who is Sri Lankan-American, enters the position as the only Asian-American woman currently serving as a U.S. senator’s chief of staff — and she tells Bustle that she’s optimistic about Congress becoming more diverse in 2019. Kosoglu’s promotion from deputy chief of staff reflects a diversity among Harris’ staffers that isn’t matched by all her Democratic colleagues. And the numbers bear that out. According to a 2017 report released by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, most senators from the party employ women staffers, but an overwhelming number of staffers are white. At the time that report was released, Harris’ office employed the second-highest number of people of color, behind only Hawaii Sen.
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Chatura De Silva, a Beverly High Class of 2008 graduate, is running for the Los Angeles Community College District. De Silva said that if he is elected, he wants to focus on several issues including outreach to the youth and helping promote the completion of college. “There’s a stigma that people have towards community college and its not as exciting as when [students] think of university. I want to try to see how I could really Chatura De Silva make that atmosphere more appealing to the youth and make them see it as an option,” De Silva said. “If you have the proper resources, you could really follow your dream.” De Silva said his mother was killed by a drunk driver in 2010. He had been determined to finish his undergraduate degree at CSUN at the time, but was placed on academic probation. He took classes at Pierce College to
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Sri Lanka Foundation wants to celebrate families! We have very exciting news, introducing a new way to connect with Sri Lankans across America and we need your help to launch this project. All of the information we receive will be compiled into a directory to be used to locate an individual, a family, or even your ancestors across the U.S. To get started, we would appreciate it if you could take the time to fill this form out with your families. Scroll down to get started: Loading…
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