Ladies, Wine and Design - Colombo

01/04/2019

Ladies, Wine & Design in partnership with Akuru Collective and Colombo Cooperative had a panel discussion on The Value of Type. Some of the driving points behind this discussion were:

- Highlighting the contributions made by various type designers and font engineers in preservation of culture and language.

- Different career aspects of studying typography.

- Shed clarity on font licenses and best practices.

Panelists:

- Dr. Sumanthri Samarawickrama (Sri Lanka)
- Samadara Ginige (Sri Lanka)
- Tanya George (India)
- Kimya Gandhi (India)

Moderator:
- Sanora Rodrigo (Sri Lanka)

Photography Credits: Diloshan Leon

23/03/2019

Thank you for this lovely article !
Curious about all things type? Check out this article by Daily Artra to find out why you should not miss our session on the Value of Type tomorrow!

Akuru Collective in Collaboration with Colombo Cooperative

14/03/2019

12/11/2018

Thank you team Sri Lanka Design Festival for supporting our cause and for being such incredible partners! 🙌🏽🥂

09/11/2018

⭐ Moderator Profile

Sharanya identifies as a feminist writer, researcher and activist. She holds an LLB (Hons) and a Masters in Conflict and Peace Studies.

Currently she works with The Grassrooted Trust as their Program Manager. Grassrooted is also a part of the partnership that runs bakamoono.lk of which Sharanya is the English Editor – an online portal in Sinhala, Tamil and English on sexual and reproductive health and rights, ensuring that people can access information in a language they understand. Grassrooted advocates for age-appropriate relationship education in schools, based on the fundamentals of respect for self, other, and difference

Sharanya also independently works as a project/program consultant, campaigner, activist, trainer/teacher, and researcher in the areas of sexual and reproductive health education, gender-based and intimate partner violence, online gender-based violence, gender education and workplace sexual harassment. She has worked with state institutions, local, regional and international civil society organizations and NGO ‘s, and private sector organizations in her work. This has included The British Council, Oxfam in Sri Lanka and the Association for Progressive Communications.

Sharanya as a writer has been published on several print and digital media outlets locally, regionally and internationally including The F Bomb. She also writes a fortnightly column ‘The F Word’ for The Weekend Express in Sri Lanka and is regularly published on bakamoono.lk. You can find her on her blog ‘Writing From That Sekaram Girl’ and on Twitter

09/11/2018

⚡Speaker Profile

Makshoodh is a passionate sales & marketer focussed on growing brands & businesses, that ultimately lead to making a difference to the lives of consumers.

Currently holds the position of Director- E Commerce for Softlogic Retail Holdings. Prior to Softlogic, was the Marketing Director for Unilever Sri Lanka responsible for Home Care, Foods & Refreshments and Pureit Categories; was also the local Lead for Media, Digital & Brand Activation for Unilever Sri Lanka. He also worked for Fonterra Brands and spent his early years in Advertising- Minds FCB.

Experience spans across marketing, retail sales, and customer marketing, in many categories including a regional role in the South Asia region gaining multi country & culture experience.

08/11/2018

⚡Speaker Profile

Ravini Jinadasa is a self proclaimed digital evangelist who began her career in digital advertising in London. Having spent her entire twenties and her early thirties abroad, she decided to pen down her reverse culture shock stories on her return to Sri Lanka.

What began as a fun thing to do with her friend Dinesh, film maker of Mathawaada fame, ended up becoming a online video series called “Tell me Shiela” which got Colombo talking for it’s controversial content.

Ravini is now plotting yet another controversial script in the little spare time she gets from her responsibilities of heading the digital unit at Bates Strategic Alliance Sri Lanka

07/11/2018

⚡Speaker Profile

Kalpanee Gunawardana is a professional model, business owner and a consultant in the fields of social work, youth entrepreneurship and fashion. Kalpanee became acutely aware very early on that people — especially women — were treated differently by society depending on their skin colour and body type. The beauty narrative in the local media she was exposed to growing up, was skewed towards an aesthetic that was not representative of the population of Sri Lanka and it did not represent her. Entering the field of modelling during her tertiary education in the UK, further highlighted the need for diversity in the industry and brought to her attention the social issues with regards to women’s representation in media which she then actively sought to educate herself on.

Kalpanee is passionate about her work in media in Sri Lanka— beyond thoroughly enjoying the art of it, she believes in advocating for a varied representation and for more women to take part in media creation.

On Saturday, Kalpanee will be discussing the harmful impact of lack of representation, oppressive attitudes and what she thinks we can do as a community, to help further the conversation 💪🏾👏

📷 Photography Credits:

06/11/2018

⚡Speaker Profile:

Shanuki De Alwis is multi-disciplinary; by day she is the General Manager of Vision1 - an independent local advertising agency in Sri Lanka – and by night a well-known theatre personality with over 20 leading lady roles to her credit.

She hates being defined and takes her multiple passions to heart by playing different roles in life. In her 17-year old career she has been a teacher, financial marketer, photography assistant, project manager, writer, TV presenter and strategic planner.

In August 2016, Shanuki was the sole female speaker at TEDxColombo, where her talk on using theatre techniques to overcome life’s challenges earned her the only standing ovation of the night. Since then, she has conducted several workshops and delivered keynote addresses to corporates, local universities and schools alike on varied subjects ranging from animal welfare, advertising, public speaking, using theatre techniques to improve life, and women’s empowerment.

Interested in what she has to say on the 'Portrayal of Women in Advertising'? Make your way to the link in bio and register now! 💃

06/11/2018

⭐Meet our amazing panelist Sheron Jayasundara!

Beginning her career in advertising over 2 decades ago and a qualified professional in Marketing with a Postgraduate Diploma from CIM UK, Sheron Jayasundara now serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Bates Strategic Alliance. A key member of the agency playing multiple roles, she believes in nurturing and motivating those around her to achieve their true potential.

She is the immediate past president of the Accredited Advertising Agencies Association (4As Sri Lanka). During her tenure she was responsible for bringing the industry together on key initiatives including the Pitch Disbursement Fee, the Sri Lankan Advertising Awards and introduced the Corporate Communications & PR course to attract young talent into the industry. For her dedication and untiring efforts towards the industry she was recognized with the Gold Award for advertising at the Women in Management Awards Sri Lanka in 2017.

She also received the Women in Leadership Awards in 2018.

01/11/2018

Thrilled to partner with Sri Lanka Design Festival for our upcoming event, 'Portrayal of Women in Advertising' on the 10th of November! FREE entry! Register below! ✌🏽💪🏾

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/portrayal-of-women-in-advertising-tickets-52174651788

19/10/2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=935&v=0qukNm3Bhgg
"There are too many that don't choose to have children, do not yet have children, or have grown children to account for the gaping lack of women in leadership positions in almost every industry." - Natalie Portman
🙌🙌🙌

Natalie Portman's step-by-step guide to topple the patriarchy: "Step 5: Gossip Well. Stop the rhetoric that a woman is crazy or difficult. If a man says a wo...