WOW Colombo Team

Subha is a feminist activist, writer/blogger and media analyst from Colombo, Sri Lanka. Subha has a background in the arts; she completed a decade of dance training and went on to work in theatre in Colombo for over five years (as a performer, producer and manager). Her international stints in the arts have included an internship at the Royal Shakespeare Company (UK) and summer school at Europe’s leading contemporary dance conservatoire, Laban (UK).

On 21 May 2016, Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala became the first Sri Lankan (male or female) to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In recognition of this accomplishment, and her professional career as a feminist and women’s rights activist over the past 14 years, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs appointed her their first-ever Goodwill Ambassador for Women’s Rights. 

Zainab Ibrahim is a researcher and practitioner in the field of social development in Sri Lanka, who has worked on projects addressing women’s rights, including masculinities. Her work has also involved research into the issues and challenges for Sri Lanka’s post-war transition, including the documentation of ethno-religious violence between communities. Zainab holds a Masters Degree in Development Studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India.

Venuri is an independent artist exploring contemporary approaches to performance making in Sri Lanka. She was a member of the Chitrasena Dance Company for 13 years. In 2008, she completed her Post Graduate Certificate in Dance from the Laban Centre, London, where she received the Michelle Simone Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Choreography’. Since 2004 she has collaborated in various multi disciplinary performance projects locally and internationally.

Tehani is an actor and dramatherapist. She holds a Masters degree in Drama and Movement Therapy from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London. She was a member of the Mind Adventures Theatre Company for 10 years where she worked as an actor and latterly as Company Manager. As an actor her performances include The Travelling Circus, Close to the Bone and Lungs. She also practises as a therapist and designs and facilitates workshops on community building and intra-personal reflection. 

Dylan is a Sri Lankan Australian reverse migrant and a freelance arts professional with a background in event and video production. He left design studies to pursue sustainable events management, co-founded a renowned solar powered sound system non-profit in Sydney and has worked in this field for 14 years. His education work involves working with young people on technical event production and facilitating creativity in performance skills. 

Savera is the CEO of MSH Packaging Industries and the founder of middyfund.com, a New York based not-for-profit that teaches middle and high school kids to use Design Thinking skills to develop their own social ventures.

The Grassrooted Trust works in sexual and reproductive health education. This includes HIV, gender and drug use. Grassrooted also works with survivors of gender-based and intimate partner violence, including those victimised online. Grassrooted is an advocate of age-appropriate relationship education in schools, based on the fundamentals of respect for self, other and difference.