Sunday Times 2
Jayawardena, second youngest female President of Smedley, takes charge with new ex-co
View(s):Toastmaster (TM) Isuri Jayawardena, only the – second youngest female President of Smedley Toastmasters – was officially inducted with her newly-appointed executive committee on Thursday (20) at their installation at Cinnamon Grand Colombo.
Jayawardena, turning 27 on October 31, joined the club back in 2015, and held various ex-co ranks before reaching the pinnacle position in the club.
An Attorney-at-Law by profession, she rose to the rank of presidency after a year of performing a hefty role as the Vice President Education and representing the club at speech competitions.
The new executive committee members
Vice President Education in Toastmasters is the executive member in charge of the educational aspect of TM.
Chevaan Daniel, Chief Guest for the occasion, centred his keynote address on Opportunity. Group Director of a leading private television network, he emphasised seizing the opportunity, while stressing the recent feats by his fellow citizens. “Opportunity means you’re on a journey to become someone. To become someone, you need to be somewhere. It is a process. This is why all of you are here, today. Because you’re looking for an opportunity”.
“Always, always…always look for an opportunity,” Daniel left the audience with the compelling message.
Jayawardena, in the top-5 youngest presidents of the club, is leader of the pack, which is poised with experience and new-found faces.
Of the experienced hands, TM Gayathri Liyanage, the outgoing Vice President membership, was adjudged as the Outstanding TM of the year. Liyanage was awarded accordingly for juggling her ex-co position as well as for making strides in speech competitions, representing only the second community club at the time of formation.
The new executive committee: Isuri Jayawardena – President, Gayathri Liyanage – VP Education, Shehan Gunathilake – VP Membership, Safiyyah Nawaz – VP Public Relations, Lakmini Wickramasinghe – Treasurer, Infas Irfan – Secretary, Waruna Premaratne – Sergeant-at-Arms and Elmo Leon – Immediate Past President.