Meet the Team - Sri Lanka In Style

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Meet the team

Everyone in the travel and hospitality trade knows this is a labour of love. Great hospitality comes from the heart. It requires a great deal of empathy and insight.

We are all avid travelers. We love lounging around in our office in Colombo (with a steaming cup of pure Ceylon tea) and bouncing holiday ideas off each other. We really get a kick out of creating and delivering amazing experiences, and helping people make the most of their well earned vacation.

Truth be told Sri Lanka is so beautiful it blows people away. And the feedback we get blows us away...


Miguel Cunat
	Miguel's association with hospitality and travel goes back to the early 1900's when his family setup the first ski resort and "boutique hotel" in the mountains near Madrid. Miguel's grandfather was interrailing around Europe in the 1920's half a century before the Interrail ticket even existed! The thirst for adventure and the tradition for the hospitality trade lives on. Miguel grew up crisscrossing the globe between Spain and Australia and he has lived in places as far fetched as London, Bangkok or Singapore. A keen traveller and adventurer Miguel has visited some 37 countries around the globe from Denmark to Iran, to Turkey, to Morroco. In Sri Lanka most of his adventures have been on the back of a motorbike or a mountain bike. Miguel has lived with his family in Sri Lanka since 2003 and has been involved with Sri Lanka InStyle since its inception in 2005. As tourism in Sri Lanka develops he is passionate about preserving the islands environment and culture.


Vajira Wijesuriya
	Vajira started her career in funds management and quickly realized that she would have it no other way than to follow her passion for travel. Vajira has been designing holidays in Sri Lanka for the last 8 years. Needless to say she knows the country like the palm of her hand and obsesses about minor details. When she is not weaving together a perfect Sri Lanka trip for one of her clients, she can be found pouring over epic travel literature or books on designer hotels. Vajira's favorite part of Sri Lanka is the Tea Country and her favorite hotel is The Dutch House in Galle.


Daminda de Silva
	Daminda is a logistics maestro and a true travel wizard. Daminda is a person people write things like this about â€œI have never received better service in my entire lifeâ€. Daminda bends backwards for everyone, nothing is too much trouble. We are honoured to have him on board. As a result of being a superb Sri Lankan cricketer Daminda began travelling at a young age with the Sri Lankan Youth Cricket team. His appetite for travel, meeting new people and learning about different cultures and experiences continued after school when he began working in the travel trade in Sri Lanka, the UK, Germany, Poland, Russia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Australia, India, Oman & Dubai. Finally Daminda returned to Sri Lanka and commenced with Sri Lanka InStyle as a Senior Travel Advisor working with the worlds most exclusive agents and independent travellers, including a celebrity or two. His greatest joy each day is being able to share his country with people from abroad ensuring that they leave with an experience beyond all expectations.


Irstel Jansen
	Dutch born Irstel Jansen has been traveling since she was 6 months old and since then has visited some 29 countries all over the globe. Irstel likes to be surrounded by beautiful things and she has a wonderful eye for beauty. Its no suprise she ended up in Sri Lanka. Having traveled to most corners of the island her most amazing trip was her honeymoon in the Southern Coastal town of Galle staying in some of the worlds most superb boutique hotels. A trip she will never forget! Irstel runs our marketing and promotional activities and reminds us every day that the pursuit of beauty is as important as the pursuit of excellence.


Patricia Gabay
	A local in a foreign country, Patricia returned to Sri Lanka, after having spent her childhood living a truly international experience in Asia, Africa and Europe. A Swedish national, Patricia is a melting pot of experiences. She absorbs a country's core values and makes them a part of who she is. She feels fortunate to live in Sri Lanka, a country where people know how to enjoy life and where light and color merge to provide a magical experience. Patricia comes to SLIS from a back ground in Marketing and PR in various industries. With her knowledge in the field combined with her international exposure she is a suitable member of our team. A person with strong family values, Patricia is a wife and a mother of two girls who already follow her steps. She is people's person who enjoys the company of others, good food and a good laugh. She takes each day on the stride with a smile in her face.


Sudesh Hettiwana
	Like most Sri Lankans Sudesh is an avid cricketer and wildlife enthusiast. Any spare weekend he has he prefers to be either in the cool of Kandy, immersed in Yala National Park spotting leopard or simply chilling out at the natural sanctuary of Ulpotha. His dream is to travel to Canada and explore its' many national parks. Sudesh has a degree in Computer Science and works at Sri Lanka InStyle as a Web Developer.


Libby Southwell
	From the backwoods of Australia to the highlands of Nepal to the sun kissed elephant polo fields of Galle, Australian Libby Southwell has literally been there, done that and written the book. Having travelled the world and been to the most extraordinary places, Libby left her successful career in advertising and moved to Sri Lanka in 2002. Her experiences in Sri Lanka are vast & varied making her a valuable consultant to the Sri Lanka InStyle team. Libby currently runs businesses in up-market tourism and is also the Festival Director of the world's leading Galle Literary Festival.


Tania Brassey
	Author of the Insight Guide to Sri Lanka, Tania last year returned to live in Sri Lanka where she was hand-reared on mangoes, mirris and mayhem. She lives in Kandy, co-writing a screenplay based on her novel about life in '50s Ceylon and pens an occasional column for SAGA Magazine on ex-pats who make their homes outside Britain. In between, she tramples on her Barefoot Shiatsu clients when she can get them to lie still. It's a hard life. But the men underneath her don't complain.


Emma Boyle
	Sri Lanka was Emma's last destination on a year-long round-the-world trip and after more than four years of living in the country, it has also proved to be her final port of call! Having visited 29 countries and worked for a selection of magazines and newspapers in Central and South America on a variety of subjects - from the politics of the Presidential House in Honduras to the depths of the Amazon Rainforest in Bolivia - Emma has a proven love for foreign culture and far flung places. An avid reader, she particularly enjoys novels, travel biographies and films set in foreign climes. Now working as a freelance writer she contributes travel-orientated articles and photographs to a wide range of magazines and is also working on a yet-to-be-published guidebook to the island. Her favorite parts of the island are the Hill Country and the wild beaches of Tangalle.