French/Dutch | Sri Lankan
I identify as mixed-race with French/Sri Lankan/Dutch heritage. My Mother is from Sri Lanka and my Father is from France, with Dutch roots. My parents met at business school in New York in the 80s. Something about helping each other ‘write up a mid-term assignment’ they claim, and it all took off from there! My Father didn’t know much about Sri Lanka before he met my Mother but fell in love with the culture pretty quickly. Both my parents are very open-minded people which is why I think the alliance worked out. My Dad is not usually the forgetful type, but he managed to forget his wallet on their first date (he must’ve been nervous), so my Mum had to pay for dinner and the cinema tickets. That didn’t seem to bother her though, as three years later they were engaged. They currently are happily residing in London and married for over 30 years now.
My parents wanted to give me and my three younger triplet siblings the best of their cultures. All four of us have a French first name, a Sri Lankan middle name and a Dutch surname. Our Mother and Grandmother have taught us everything about Sri Lankan Buddhist culture and meditation practice. We were all born and brought up in London with a mix of other cultures and people from different backgrounds. When it comes to relationships, I tend to go for someone with a strong cultural background and a curiosity to learn about mine. I believe that mixed-race individuals are becoming much more common in our society and even a ‘trend’ in some way. This definitely shows that the world is more connected today, but also that people are more willing to take the risk of spending the rest of their lives with someone that is culturally different to them, which I think is beautiful.
I am lucky enough to have been brought up in a very diverse part of London where if you take a sample of ten people, you'll probably find more than 10 nationalities. As an adult, I regularly receive compliments about how cool it is to be mixed, to look different and be able to visit family all over the world. I spend over two months of the year in France every year and visit my family on my Mum's side in Sri Lanka at least every two years. As a kid, I never really realised how lucky I was to be mixed and actually saw it as a negative sometimes when it came to ‘fitting in’ at school. As an adult, it gives me confidence, knowing I am different and unique in a world of nearly 8 billion people today. I am hopeful that the more time goes by, the more it will become common and accepted to be mixed as it is clearly not the case everywhere in the world today.
I used to work in investment banking before I started as a freelancer in health and wellness. Finance is still a very traditional sector where being a bit ‘different’ is not fully accepted everywhere yet. I didn’t have any bad experiences per se, but I definitely felt different and at times slightly out of place. I had a major burnout at the end of last year and a deep questioning of who I was as an individual and what my life purpose was. I decided to give up my job in finance to start exploring what has always been most important to me: health. It has been 4 months now since I made the transition and I absolutely love it! My aim is to help others to feel at their best: confident, fit, happy and fulfilled in their life. I started documenting my journey on Instagram just for fun and the response has been amazing. I give free workout classes on my account every week to promote fitness, healthy habits and self-confidence as well as daily lifestyle tips on how to live life to the fullest! I try to keep a balance between work, studying, being active and eating healthy. Meditation is also part of my daily routine.
I feel like things may finally be going in the right direction even though there is still so much to be done. Awareness about racism has spread further than it has ever spread before in my lifetime, so I am truly hopeful for the future. If I was reborn, I wouldn’t change a damn thing because I love the way I am!