Promoting Sri Lankan herbal porridges and tea, US based Sajani Amarasiri embodies the spirit of entrepreneurship
Words: Tina Edward Gunawardhana
Photographs: Courtesy of Sajani Amarasiri
Championing the immigrant hustle, Sajani Amarasiri has launched her latest venture Kola Goodies which has wellness at its heart. After having worked for tech giants such as Microsoft and Amazon, Sajani followed her heart by becoming an entrepreneur. Overcoming many hurdles along the way her products are being greeted with eager enthusiasm by wellness followers across the world.
Tell us about Kola Goodies?
We make South Asian inspired drink blends. We directly work with farmers and collectives in South Asia and are changing the way the supply chain works in the wellness industry right now.
What made you venture down this path?
After I immigrated to the US as an international student, over the past decade that I have lived here, I have seen an increase in South Asian rituals and customers here wanting to try rituals we grew up with. However, I didn’t see any of those brands being representative of the actual culture.
What does wellness mean to you?
Wellness has always meant balance - it doesn’t mean that you have to follow a strict diet and put your body through very strenuous things. When we were growing up in Sri Lanka, we usually had a very well balanced focused attitude towards wellness so that’s what it means to me.
