Joyce Gunawardene has had an exciting journey, switching creative paths and trying new things out until she settled into her current post as Director Promotions at JAT Holdings. Starting off as a model, she worked for 17 years posing and strutting the catwalk for Sri Lanka’s most fashionable designers. The follow up to that was a successful singing career which spanned countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. Having proven to be beautiful as well as talented, she rounded off that list by finishing her degree in Child Psychology, proving that it is indeed possible to have everything.

With such an eclectic series of accomplishments, how did she get into advertising? “Getting into the field of advertising was not something I planned or had in mind! I was never one who fancied an office job and doing a 9 – 5 job was never my cup of tea,” she says. So what happened? “Then along came Aelian who swept me off my feet. He also convinced me that I should work at JAT as he thought I would have much to contribute towards promotions and advertising. Perhaps he saw some hidden talent?”

Not having any knowledge of the field meant that she didn’t immediately jump on board with the idea, but steady “prodding and assurance that Aelian would always be there to assist and help”  meant that she was won over, and decided to try her hand at it.

And try she did; more than try as she dove into a world that suited her quite well. Her job is on the inventive side of the business spectrum, as she handles “all day to day operations of the creative department be it introducing promotional strategies, in-store design and displays, all ATL BTL and TTL promotion activities for Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Maldives and Seychelles.”

She enjoys her job, mostly “working in an environment where we work as a family striving to achieve the same goal, and the fact that I am given the freedom to bring my creativity to life. There is nothing more gratifying.”

Of course, nothing comes easy, and Joyce recognises that. She finds “the fact that very few people mean what they say, and are honest” something difficult to deal with; jealousy, too she says, is a big issue. Yet, she is grateful.

“Being a mother, managing a home, and working at JAT as Director Promotions has been very challenging, but with God by my side, coupled with my passion, dedication and perseverance, I have managed to scale great heights.”  

Her success and survival too, is attributed to hard work and dedication as well as “being supported by a wonderful family and colleagues.”

Watching an expert at work, someone with real passion truly fuels her. Her inspiration comes from people she meets and observes, rare people “who are self-motivated and driven”. She finds such people in uncommon places sometimes, “whether it is my son, my colleagues at work or even a street vendor, feeling and seeing the need in them to strive to do what they do better than ever is very inspiring.” Her goal is a simple, yet profound one.

Text by Marissa van Eyck
Pics by Manoj Rathnayake