Founder · Editor · Entrepreneur · Advocate
Nayomini
Weerasooriya
- Satynmag.com
- PR Agency
- Digital Agency
- WFW Awards
- Retro Entrepreneur
Building businesses as a woman in Sri Lanka since 1995 — before the playbook, before the platform, before anyone called it entrepreneurship.
- 30
- Years building
- 5
- Ventures
- 27
- Years of Satynmag
Scroll to read her story
“I started Satynmag the same year my son was born. He is 27 now. So is the magazine. Both are still going strong.”
Her story
Thirty years.
Still building.
In 1995, Nayomini Weerasooriya started a PR agency in Sri Lanka before there was a playbook for what she was doing. No women's business networks. No social media. No startup ecosystem. Just a vision and the courage to act on it.
In 1998, the same year her son was born, she launched Satynmag — Sri Lanka's women's magazine in print. She ran both for fifteen years, through the internet's arrival and every moment the industry said it couldn't be done.
In 2007, nine years into building two businesses, she had her daughter — embracing late motherhood and fitting a newborn into a life already full. She restructured around the new reality and kept going.
In 2013 she took Satynmag digital — a deliberate reinvention on her own terms. In 2020, mid-pandemic, she launched a digital marketing agency. In 2021, she founded Sri Lanka's only women-focused workplace awards.
She never stopped. She is still building.
The timeline
1995
PR Agency — founded
Pre-internet Sri Lanka. Building from nothing as a woman, before anyone had a name for what she was doing.
1998
Satynmag launches in print
Sri Lanka's women's magazine. Fifteen years of print publishing, through everything the industry threw at it.
Same year her son was born
2007
Late motherhood — her daughter arrives
Two businesses running. A nine-year-old son. She fitted it in without stepping back.
Building and motherhood, at once
2013
Satynmag goes digital
Fifteen years of print. A deliberate reinvention — most magazines didn't survive this. Satynmag did.
Son was 15. Satynmag was 15.
2020
Digital marketing agency — mid-pandemic
Twenty-five years in, she started something new. Reading a market others were fleeing.
2021
WFW Awards launch
Sri Lanka's only women-focused workplace awards. She built the institution that measures empowerment.
What she has learned
30 years of building.
In her own words.
Six insights from three decades of building as a woman in Sri Lanka — drawn from her newsletter, writing, and the conversations she keeps having with women just starting out.
On starting
“Nobody is ever ready. I started the PR agency in 1995 not because I was ready but because waiting for ready is how nothing ever gets built.”
From her newsletter Retro Entrepreneur — on what she would tell a woman waiting for the right moment.
On motherhood and building
“I had my son and my magazine in the same year. People said I was doing too much. I thought I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing.”
On 1998 — the year everything began.
On reinvention
“Taking Satynmag digital in 2013 was the hardest editorial decision I ever made. It was also the one that kept us alive.”
On the 2013 pivot — and knowing when something needs to change.
On persistence
“There was a year I nearly shut Satynmag down. I did not because I could not imagine being the person who gave up on something Sri Lankan women needed.”
On the hardest years — and what keeps a founder going.
On female empowerment
“I did not want to talk about female empowerment. I wanted to build something that outlasted the conversation. That is why the awards exist.”
On founding the Satynmag Women-Friendly Workplace Awards in 2021.
On late motherhood
“Having my daughter at nine years into two businesses taught me something the first time around did not — that you get better at fitting life in. Not easier. Better.”
On 2007 — second motherhood when you are also a founder.
I didn't just want to talk about female empowerment. I wanted to build something that outlasted the conversation. That is why Satynmag exists. That is why the awards exist. That is why I am still here, thirty years later.
— Nayomini Weerasooriya · Founder & Editor · Satynmag
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