Tea Time from Sri Lanka! 🇱🇰
"Going to college in the US changed my life. It is more about the experience than it is the education." - Thiyumi
𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞? 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐧.
Special Guests: Thiyumi Abeysinghe & Shashike Silva
You must be wondering, how did two people from Sri Lanka end up in Jersey County?! Our CEO Facilitator, Liz Duggan played college tennis with Thiyumi. Even with a 10.5 hour time difference, they have stayed in touch all these years later.

Thiyumi's resume includes a double major in economics and business from University of Illinois Springfield and continuing her education after moving back to Sri Lanka to become a lawyer. She also won the National Sri Lankan Tennis Open as a teenager in both singles and doubles and represented her country in many international tennis competitions!

Thiyumi's husband, Shashike, has made a career of in the tea industry. He is currently the Senior Vice President at Asia Siyaka Commodities Plc and Director at Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers (Pvt) Ltd.

He was kind enough to bring us tea from Sri Lanka! 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚 𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 $𝟐𝟎𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐠! He had ten different teas for students to try and walked us through a proper tea tasting. Students had a paper to write down their thoughts on the flavors they tasted and rated each tea.

These two are well-traveled with Thiyumi having been to 45 countries and Shashike having been to 36. Having been so many places, there's still no place like home in Sri Lanka to them. The country is half the size of Illinois. Sri Lanka was in a civil war 26 years from 1983 to 2009. They both remember these chaotic times and even memories of bombs exploding close to their schools. Living through this kind of environment has given them a resilience and gratitude towards life that can't be taught.

Liz had the pleasure of going to Sri Lanka and would tell you it is now a peaceful welcoming country and in the top tier of the most beautiful places she's ever been. They have mountains, oceans, culture, delicious food - they have it all.

Thiyumi is a rare breed in that she is just as smart as she is kind. Shashike likely has no enemy as he is loved by everyone he meets, his kindness and humor is sure to win you over.

They were kind enough to make a Sri Lankan dinner for students that were able to come. It was so good that most everyone had seconds.

While we love to keep our visits primarily to local businesses, we want to always encourage students to grow their network while in college and be open to learning about people from different places.

ANSWER: The fastest transactions in the world happen on the tea trading floor where Shashike's gavel is rapidly closing a sales.

"That was one of the coolest experiences I think I've had this year. This was an amazing experience and I hope through college I'll utilize the different cultural experiences and networks!" - CEO Student

Thank you both for taking the time to speak to us and having such an interactive presentation!