Then a diffident schoolgirl, now a winner at the World Training Development Congress
Confident Loretta and (below) receiving her award in Mumbai
Poised and confident, as she stood on the podium during the World Training Development Congress in Mumbai recently amidst 1,600 delegates, Loretta Kuruppu Gunewardene, was a far cry from what she was as a little girl.
That girl was very shy and vulnerable to bullying and would prefer to be unseen and unheard.
Over the years though her life had changed, interspersed with five tragedies, for the better and in Mumbai she was one of the winners of the Global Awards for Leadership Training.
“No I didn’t pay any money for the award,” Loretta laughs when asked, adding that when the call came that she had been chosen for the award her query too had been whether it was for a fee, like numerous awards people brag about.
How had they picked her? “They had looked at my LinkedIn Profile and seen the work I do and the exposure I have got,” says Loretta, with the Jury deciding on the winners thus and sending her an e-mail. Loretta is an ‘Executive Coach, Training Consultant and Mentor on Essential Professional Skills’.
This was the same Loretta who was “scared and terrified” of people as a girl while in Primary School at Holy Family Convent (HFC), Bambalapitiya, until the life-changer came in the form of a legendary old-school elocution teacher – Wendy Whatmore.
“I was very quiet, shy and diffident,” she says, recalling how she would hate to go to the tuckshop as she would be pushed and shoved around. She was also very sheltered as the only daughter (with just one brother), of Leslie and Mercy Kuruppu, with her mother being extremely strict. When she was about 11 her father who was a senior official at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation was transferred to Anuradhapura and along went his family with him. When Loretta joined HFC Anuradhapura, Mrs. Whatmore had a request – “Open a branch of my Elocution School over there.”
Loretta did just that and believes that Mrs. Whatmore saw and lit a spark within her that has brought her to the heights she has achieved. Reminiscences come tumbling out………how the Anuradhapura HFC Principal got her to hold English classes as well as speech and drama for her peers under a tree, as she was the girl from Colombo who was fluent in the language.
Back in Colombo, Loretta was a different person at HFC Bambalapitiya, having gained a little bit of confidence in herself. After her studies, she chose accountancy as her career path, joining Aitken Spence, where she got much encouragement to “come farther out of my shell”.
Marriage followed to Niranjan Gunewardene and soon thereafter she accompanied her husband on his voyages as he was a Captain of a ship.
Episodes of her colourful life are shared over delicious cucumber and cheese sandwiches she herself has made along with patties and a long cool drink in her beautiful home in Pepiliyana.
The journey of life, along with her husband and two children, took her to different countries and she harks back to how she was chosen out of 300 accountants and marketers for a job at the ANZ Bank (Australian and New Zealand Banking Group) in New Zealand because of her attitude.
Pic by Indika Handuwala
It was around this time that Loretta realized the potential within her and yearned to come back to Sri Lanka and train and empower others and to this end she completed her Licentiate at Wendy Whatmore’s School under the guidance of Mrs. Whatmore’s daughter, Wendy Holsinger, or “Aunty Bundles” as they called her.
There has been no turning back and she says, “My exposure in the corporate field is over 20 years and I have trained personnel in almost 90% of the blue-chip companies in Sri Lanka.” From the HSBC to the Nations Trust Bank, from John Keells to Hayleys to Carsons to SriLankan Airlines to the MAS group, Brandix and the list goes on. More than 16,000 professionals including chief executive officers, directors, pilots, lawyers, professors, bankers, hoteliers, cabin crew and front-line consultants have come under her gentle guidance.
The corporate training potential within her developed when a cousin, introduced her to Carsons, her first client, after which her career took off.
The tragedies and trauma in her life have empowered her. She picks on one harrowing experience – the time she found herself on the unfamiliar streets of Mumbai amidst a huge flood. She had been in the city to train some cabin crew of SriLankan Airlines and had hopped a taxi to do a little shopping when she got caught in the deluge. The taxi stalled in the high flood waters and taking her courage in her hands she and the driver had walked the streets without injury or harm to safety.
Having worked in Australia, New Zealand, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka, she believes that she has a global perspective and from a diverse background.
Specific and targeted are her workshops and include such modules as ‘The power of professional skills’ (be it conflict management, communication of an idea, getting and giving feedback); ‘Professional appearance and the first impression’; ‘Present & deliver as never before’ (based on Steve Jobs’ method, with Loretta securing a training by the Harvard Business School in the United States of America); ‘Effective communication’ (handling stage fear, building confidence, having the right attitude for change and developing soft skills); and ‘Employability career planning’ (how to write a resume, how to present oneself at an interview, what areas of development are necessary for the corporate world).
The awards and commendations Loretta has received are numerous but she is particularly proud of her latest from the World Training Development Congress and another international award in 2010 for Excellence in the Development of Youth from the World Human Resources Development Congress.
For her success, while she believes her own efforts have gone a long way, Loretta is sure that the grace of God has been with her throughout, without which she would be nowhere.