NEWS

Sri Lanka is deemed as one of the most iconic islands in the world, with scenic locations of natural beauty, cultural heritage, and social orientation that hinges on a tradition of care and empathy, and warm hospitality and friendly nature.

With a history dating back to thousands of years, Sri Lanka, has given rise to some of the well reputed personalities in the world, and continues to produce exceptional personalities, to date.

Here is an introduction to an unique, young, and dynamic character, who is a talking beauty with brains and a talent to new dimension.

A sparkling and enthusiastic person by comportment, Thilesha Atapattu is a freelance event compere, an award-winning speaker and an HR Practitioner by profession born and raised in Sri Lanka having done her Journalism Studies and Bachelor’s in Human Resource Management and reading for her postgraduate in Labour Law and Industrial Relations.

Many renowned brands in Sri Lanka have made Thilesha their preferred choice for their most important events like Business Conferences, Product Launches, Award Ceremonies etc. She has won the Best Speaker award in a competition for Public Speaking in 2018 and has been the Best Announcer in many other competitions. In 2016, she became the All-Island winner of her Executive Diploma in HRM with an exceptional record for the presentation delivered. She also has certifications in Dynamic and Global Aspects of Business Strategy Management as well as in Recruitment and Appraisal Management obtained from GIBS and Jaipuria School of Business India respectively.

She believes, ‘we have all the resources we will ever need, within us.’ Her vision is to inspire and help millions of people around the world, making a positive difference in their lives with wisdom and joy. This vision transformed her from a Corporate Speaker to a Public Speaking Coach to an HR Professional.

Thilesha comes with more than 5 years of corporate experience, leading through human resource management roles and responsibilities. She started her career at Aqua Holdings as a Payroll Officer and later joined Gold Coin Feed Mills Sri Lanka where she made most of her career. Having started on her career path with Gold Coin, Thilesha put her experience and knowledge to practice by becoming an HR Generalist.

Over her service, she has helped shape the company's core employee programs first as Assistant, People Relations. Her outstanding performances compared to her age excelled her position at Gold Coin, and within her second year of employment she was promoted to the managerial level making her the youngest manager in the group.

Some of the highlights of her time in this role include improving employee engagement, HR's response time and service quality, as well as successfully shepherding the company through a period of economic crisis.

It was her initiative to design and implement a Rewards and Recognition Program at the Company which led to greater employee engagement. It was also her initiative to re-create Job Descriptions of all level employees which satisfy the requirements of ISO certifications. To this end, she overhauled the approach to recruitment, the association model, and cultivated partnerships between the company and employee organizations, maintaining union-free status.

Currently she is working in the capacity of Assistant Manager - Human Resources. On top of that, she is an Internal Coach for Presentation Skills, and the leader for Employee Career Paths. She has a good understanding of local labour laws and regulations as a practitioner who deals with legal compliances. She has been recognized as the Best Value Practiced Employee of the workplace as well.

In a nutshell, Thilesha is a given example of work-life balance. She discovered her true passion and love for entertainment and emceeing while pursuing her career in HR and she works with professionals who are in leadership roles in public education and are looking to understand the strategies they can employ to balance themselves between their personal life and their work life so that they can be more effective in their leadership role.