We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mayanthi Jayawardena a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mayanthi, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

As a Sri Lankan American 2nd generation immigrant, I have always felt that my roots were spread far and wide, never fully attaching to one place. I was born and raised in the US while my heart was always in Sri Lanka and yet, whenever I would go to Sri Lanka, I would never quite feel like I was accepted. This journey is one that many 2nd generation immigrants feel and the term is coined “third culture kid”. I have grown up with this imposter syndrome surrounded by people that could never fully understand. Fast forward to 2022 when I was selected as one of a handful of South Asian creatives to be flown out to New York City by the South Asian American Digital Archives (SAADA). Here we learned about how we could further their mission in creating a digital archive of South Asian contributions in the United States, the closest thing that we have to a museum. During the event, I was surrounded by other creatives who had grown up feeling the exact same way as I had. I was in shock and certainly in tears. The more I learned from Samip, the Executive Director and Founder, about the mission of SAADA I felt at home and like I had found my community for the first time in my life. It was amazing. I knew that from that moment on I would be dedicated to furthering SAADA’s mission. Fast forward a few months after the event, Samip reached out with a proposition that was a dream come true. SAADA was moving into a new office and he wanted me to paint a mural at their entrance that represented their mission and all of our collective stories. I couldn’t believe it! To say I felt seen and valued was an understatement. Samip and his wonderful colleague, Danbi, worked with me to come up with the perfect design and coordinate the mural installation in their office in Philadelphia. What was most impactful to me about the design process was how intentional SAADA was. They collected stories and ideas from their stakeholders to come up with different objects, plants and flowers that represented our homes in South Asia and our lives in the United States. What we came up with was a beautiful compilation of many South Asian American experiences. Even more special was being in Philadelphia painting the mural as Samip, Danbi and the rest of the team were so welcoming and I have never had more fun painting a mural. I hope to be able to represent my community and others by creating meaningful and powerful artwork wherever I go. I will never forget these experiences and I look forward to many more. I know that I am on the right path.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Mayanthi and I am the artist behind Serendib Creative. I am a multidisciplinary artist with my primary focuses on murals, fine art painting, children’s book illustrations, photography, and design. I love creating murals for new businesses or homes to bring vibrance to their walls. I am also what some have coined an “artivist” (art activist) where I use my artwork to raise awareness on topics that are important to me and the communities that I serve. Another fun aspect of my work is that I love creating custom portraits (from pets to people) for my clients. I also love doing spontaneous art drops of custom painted jackets, bags and other pieces. Something that is a newfound passion of mine is creating new worlds to tell the wonderful stories of children’s books. I love taking an authors story and bringing it to life and then seeing that printed in a book. The same goes for my photography and design. From capturing your personality and making you feel comfortable in front of the lens to bringing your company vision to life via logo or web design, it makes me so happy to see that look of joy and excitement with a satisfied client. When you work with me, you will work with someone who deeply cares about creating something special for you. I will work diligently to bring your vision to life and create something that will bring you joy. My artwork is vibrant, empowering, and full of life.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Prior to starting my career as an artist, I was a sexual violence prevention specialist working with colleges and universities to make their communities safer. This was an amazing and fulfilling job AND it was very emotionally taxing. I had worked in this career for almost 9 years. Working in higher education changed my life, and eventually drained me. No matter how fulfilling the work was, my body was telling me that something was off. I found myself unable to sleep after working long and tiring hours. I developed severe migraines and anxiety. I started feeling like I was unable to go to work anymore. During this time, I remember leaning into art. I would host painting parties or paint on my own. I started playing around with my camera again and doing random photoshoots with loved ones.

I think it is important for me to emphasize that I didn’t stop loving the work, but the work became too much for me at the time. Policies started changing in higher education making it less trauma informed and I felt that I spent more time fighting for the proper practices than doing the work. Eventually I knew that I had to leave. While I wished that I had planned it all out and saved a ton of money for my new career in art, life didn’t work out that way so before I knew it I had submit my letter of resignation and I was sitting at home trying to pick up the pieces.

Thankfully, through art, I found myself finding purpose again. I began creating artwork that channeled what I was feeling and was shocked when it was received on a global scale. I also was surprised when more and more people wanted me to take their photos. It is safe to say that art saved me and I think that the pivot that I had to make to shift to a new career was one of the scariest and best things that have happened to me. While I will always be an advocate, my advocacy has simply shifted in how it looks. Being curious, courageous and believing in myself is really what got me to this point and I am forever grateful for everyone who supported me, even when they had no idea what I was doing.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson that I had to unlearn is that “making a career out of what you love is a bad idea.” I was told “You will lose your passion. You should have a stable career so that you can do what you love on the side “. I have members of my family who have strong and solid careers doing what they like and do what they love on the side and they are perfectly happy. That life was not for me.

I remember so many people telling me that they were scared to do what they loved because the pressure of paying the bills would take the joy out of it. There is certainly logic in that and I have experienced stress in my career but nothing beats that feeling of waking up every morning realizing that I am getting paid to do what makes my heart skip a beat. All of the challenges that have come with starting my own business and becoming a full time artist, leaving behind the consistent pay check, has not even come close to comparing with the sense of freedom and love that I feel doing what I do.

There is always going to be that struggle period of starting something new and learning the ins and outs of being a small business and how to maintain a healthy financial outlook, but with time, all of it gets easier and more fulfilling. I would much rather have the challenges that I have now than doing something that I didn’t love and only having the hours after work to enjoy the “money” that I had made doing that. Now, don’t get me wrong, my previous career was also something I was passionate about, but the jobs that I had that I wasn’t passionate about were completely different and very draining. Now I get to spend all of my hours however many I want, doing what I love and I am thrilled about it. I have no regrets and I encourage anybody who is on the fence about leaning in to what they love to just do it. The best parts of life are on the other side of fear!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.serendibcreative.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/serendibcreative
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/serendibcreative
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/serendibcreativ