The Creative Odyssey Podcast

From Actor to Tech Founder: Following Your Curiosity with Biman Wimalaratne

Send Us A Message! We'd love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2366557/fan_mail/new] At the peak of an award-winning acting career — theatre in Sydney, agents in London and Australia — Biman Wimalaratne made a decision most people never do. He walked away. Not because he failed. Because he wanted to stop narrating other people's stories and start living his own. Now he's Chief Growth Officer at Kainovation Technologies, an InsureTech startup building AI-powered insurance intelligence tools and recognised as a Top 7 Startup in Sri Lanka. He also helps run N Chandraratne Decorators, a 45-year-old family construction business that took a serious hit during the Sri Lankan economic crisis — and came back. In this conversation, Sheran and Biman go deep on what it actually looks like to follow your curiosity across multiple careers, industries, and versions of yourself. WHAT YOU'LL HEAR: - Walking away from an acting peak — and why it was the right call - Why creative people need both analytical and creative modes to function at their best - Career cycles: how Biman learned to read industries the way a musician reads time signatures - The "jack of all trades" argument — and the part of that quote most people have never heard - What the Sri Lankan economic crisis did to a family business built over 45 years - Door-to-door sales in Sydney, drama school, and proving something to yourself - Facing racism as a brown guy navigating Australia and London - The moment he said "forget what everyone thinks" — and what happened next - Why versions of you have to die for new ones to emerge - The inner child underneath all the ambition — and why no one else can do that work for you Recorded at Hatch Sri Lanka — a startup hub where creativity and technology meet to solve real problems. CONNECT WITH BIMAN: Instagram: @bimankw LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/biman-wimalaratne-bb3804b7 LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE: 🎙️ Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/12SGsSsLz4DqlLFwxigjXX 🍎 Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/the-creative-odyssey-podcast/id1750306317 📖 Get the Sri Lanka Podcast Tour Magazine: https://stan.store/TheCreativeOdysseyPodcast/p/get-inside-the-creative-odyssey-magazine 📩 Contact: thecreativeodysseypodcast@gmail.com creative entrepreneur, Sri Lanka podcast, actor turned entrepreneur, career pivot, following your curiosity, InsureTech Sri Lanka, Hatch Sri Lanka, Kainovation Technologies, creative entrepreneurship, entrepreneur motivation, self love, inner child, career advice, Sri Lankan startup, multi-passionate entrepreneur Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2366557/support]

He Built a Studio in His Backyard. Now Sri Lanka's Biggest Brands Book It | Sachith Perera

Send Us A Message! We'd love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2366557/fan_mail/new] Sachith Perera is an IT project manager who built a photography and video studio in his parents' backyard during COVID — not because he was a creative, but because he was curious. In this episode, Sachith breaks down how he applied the IT concept of minimal viable product to launching Creator Space Studios, survived Sri Lanka's economic crisis, and grew a 15x15 foot backyard space into a fully booked commercial studio working with some of Sri Lanka's biggest brands. But the deeper story is about what made risk-taking possible — losing his father at 15, a mother who held everything together, and the support systems that taught him the worst thing that can happen is rarely as bad as the fear of it. He also mentors young professionals, offers free studio time to emerging creators, and believes you should want the people you help to become better than you. This is what creativity looks like when it lives inside a curious mind — not a paintbrush. —— 📍 Recorded at Hatch.lk | Sri Lanka Series 💌 Get inside the Sri Lanka Podcast Tour Magazine: https://stan.store/TheCreativeOdysseyPodcast/p/get-inside-the-creative-odyssey-magazine 📲 Follow Sachith: @sachithperera | linkedin.com/in/sachithap/ 📩 thecreativeodysseypodcast@gmail.com Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2366557/support]

She Codes AI & Games. Here's How She Defines Creativity | Himashi Naurunna

Send Us A Message! We'd love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2366557/fan_mail/new] Engineering without creativity shows up in the product. Every time. Himashi Naurunna has been inside enough products to know — and in this episode she explains exactly what that means. 📥 Get the Sri Lanka Podcast Tour Magazine — free download: https://stan.store/TheCreativeOdysseyPodcast/p/get-inside-the-creative-odyssey-magazine?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio Himashi Naurunna is an Associate Tech Lead in AI/ML at Gapstars, a former game developer at Rivertune Games, and a First Class Honours graduate in Computer Software Engineering. She's based in Nugegoda, Sri Lanka, and she has one of the clearest creative philosophies of any guest this show has had — she just doesn't frame it that way, because she doesn't need to. In this episode, recorded at Hatch.lk startup hub in Sri Lanka, Himashi and Sheran cover: - The game that sparked everything — Ori and the Blind Forest — and the moment she thought "if they can do it, I can do it too" - How gaming became the gateway from finger painting into coding and eventually into machine learning - What creativity actually means inside a world of logic, code, and algorithms - Why AI is built from human creativity — and why that makes it a creative tool rather than a threat - Building Yokai L — the mobile game where every micro-decision from jump height to damage buffers was a creative act - The line that landed hardest: when you engineer without creativity you can see it in the product - Engineers and burnout — why they're married to each other, and what gets you through the 3AM bug spiral - The blob tracking algorithm she posted on Instagram that inspired people she never expected - AGI — what it is, what it isn't, and why the dream isn't just intelligence but creative intelligence - Why humans are, structurally, already a form of AI — and what that reframe does to how you think about what we're building - How Sri Lankans respond to AI engineers — and what Himashi says back - Why Hatch.lk is the Silicon Valley of Sri Lanka and why building around builders is the only proper way to do it This episode is part of The Creative Odyssey Podcast Sri Lanka Series, recorded live at Hatch.lk startup hub, Colombo, Sri Lanka. ───────────────────────────── GUEST ───────────────────────────── Himashi Naurunna Associate Tech Lead, AI/ML — Gapstars LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hansa-naurunna-013324197 Instagram: @lia.likescookies ───────────────────────────── FIND THE SHOW ───────────────────────────── 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/12SGsSsLz4DqlLFwxigjXX 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/the-creative-odyssey-podcast/id1750306317 🌐 Buzzsprout: https://thecreativeodysseypodcast.buzzsprout.com 📩 Email: thecreativeodysseypodcast@gmail.com 📥 Sri Lanka Magazine: https://stan.store/TheCreativeOdysseyPodcast/p/get-inside-the-creative-odyssey-magazine?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio ───────────────────────────── PRODUCED BY ───────────────────────────── Odyssey House Media Recorded at Hatch.lk startup hub, Sri Lanka Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2366557/support]

He Builds Useful Things That Give a Lot of Value to a Lot of People | Tharaka Hettihamu

Send Us A Message! We'd love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2366557/fan_mail/new] He didn't walk away from aircraft engineering because something better came along. He walked away because nothing he built ever reached anyone — and that was the only thing that mattered to him. Tharaka Hettihamu is a product manager and builder working at the intersection of agritech, AI, and startup product development in Sri Lanka. In this conversation, he breaks down what product management actually demands, why he pivoted from aircraft engineering into tech, and how his team at Spectrify AI is digitising data across Sri Lanka's tea industry to turn a supply chain into a value chain. 📥 Download the Sri Lanka Podcast Tour Magazine — free: https://stan.store/TheCreativeOdysseyPodcast/p/get-inside-the-creative-odyssey-magazine?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio [https://stan.store/TheCreativeOdysseyPodcast/p/get-inside-the-creative-odyssey-magazine?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio] What we get into: * Why Tharaka left aircraft engineering and what he found on the other side * What product management actually is — and why emotional intelligence is the core skill * How Spectrify AI is using infrared spectroscopy to digitise agricultural data in Sri Lanka's tea industry * What it means to convert a supply chain into a value chain * The Govi Lab program — one of 10 startups selected, backed by the Bill Gates Foundation * AI agents, digital workers, and the Vector project * Why creativity in tech has nothing to do with artistic talent * How AI access in rural Sri Lanka is an infrastructure problem, not a readiness problem * How to get into product management from any background — including the free resources Tharaka used CONNECT WITH THARAKA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hetti.tech/ [https://www.instagram.com/hetti.tech/] Website: https://hetti.tech [https://hetti.tech] 🎙️ The Creative Odyssey Podcast Hosted by Sheran Ranasinghe | Produced by Odyssey House Media Recorded at Hatch.lk, Sri Lanka 🎧 Listen and subscribe: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/12SGsSsLz4DqlLFwxigjXX [https://open.spotify.com/show/12SGsSsLz4DqlLFwxigjXX] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/the-creative-odyssey-podcast/id1750306317 [https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/the-creative-odyssey-podcast/id1750306317] Buzzsprout: https://thecreativeodysseypodcast.buzzsprout.com [https://thecreativeodysseypodcast.buzzsprout.com] 📩 thecreativeodysseypodcast@gmail.com [thecreativeodysseypodcast@gmail.com] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2366557/support]

He Had 8 Careers. None of Them Were Wasted. | Ammar Ahamed

Send Us A Message! We'd love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2366557/fan_mail/new] What if every job you've ever had was building toward something you can't see yet? Ammar Ahamed didn't plan to become a growth marketer, a startup founder, or a skill development entrepreneur. He planned to be a journalist. Then HR felt safer. Then PR felt right. Then employer branding took him across Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Jordan. Then growth marketing found him. Now he's running two companies while heading growth at an AI firm in Singapore — and he commutes three hours a day by public transport from Mawenella to Colombo. None of it was a detour. All of it was the portfolio. In this conversation recorded at Hatch.lk in Colombo as part of the Sri Lanka Series, Ammar makes the case that your job title is a corporate categorization tool — not your identity. Your skills compound across every role you take. And the skills you most need might be ones you don't even know you have yet. What we get into: - Why Ammar calls his career a portfolio instead of a path - How he went from newspaper clippings to key account manager in 3 months - The hidden skills you carry that experimentation unlocks - The fake podcast that revealed his real ability - What the Hatch startup community taught him about creative courage - Why coding, farming, and engineering are all forms of creativity - The 60/40 rule: why soft skills matter more than technical ones - How to upskill, reskill, and reinvent yourself — starting now Download the free Sri Lanka Podcast Tour Magazine: https://stan.store/TheCreativeOdysseyPodcast/p/get-inside-the-creative-odyssey-magazine 🎙️ Hosted by Sheran Ranasinghe 🎬 Produced by Odyssey House Media 📍 Recorded at Hatch.lk, Colombo, Sri Lanka 🌐 thecreativeodysseypodcast.com 📧 thecreativeodysseypodcast@gmail.com 🎵 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/12SGsSsLz4DqlLFwxigjXX 🍎 Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/the-creative-odyssey-podcast/id1750306317 Find Ammar: ammarahamed.life | @ammar.ahd Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2366557/support]