Excitement builds up

by Mahes Perera

Excitement and tension ran rampant yesterday at the Tulip Hall, Galadari Hotel when the second round for the selection of prospective contestants for participation in the Mrs. Sri Lanka for Mrs. Globe International and Mrs. Asia International Sri Lanka 2015 was worked off.

Mrs. Srimali Fonseka

The response was a packed Tulip Hall which made the organisers happy and kept them on their toes. The work for the organisers Vasana Danthanarayana and Rozanne Diasz doubled, but that did not deter them from ensuring that the selection was in keeping with the rules.

Now that the selection is over, the training of the contestants, to face the finale pageant in Sri Lanka to be held next month will commence.
More details of the selected names will be published next week.
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Winner of Mrs. Asia 2012 and Mrs. Sri Lanka nominee for Mrs. Globe 2013, Mrs. Srimali Fonseka is now a familiar name in the TV World of Sri Lanka.

In a conversation with her recently, she has come a long way from the shy person she was during her young days.

A former student of St. Joseph's Convent, Negombo, Srimali was always interested in dabbling with beauty and hair make up and dreamt of being a professional in these areas.

Come 2011 and Srimali saw herself in Dubai to study for advance classes in beauty and hair make up at the Cleopatra Spa. With a London diploma under her belt, Srimali came back to Sri Lanka determined “to gain a Sri Lankan experience in this field.”

Q: So how did you get about gaining this Sri Lankan experience?

“I sat for the City and Guilds diploma examinations in Hair and Beauty separately and I gained my experience by working at Crown Hair and Beauty which was run by Raquel Yaseen. I was with them for one year before I joined Jaal Saloon and worked with them for about one and a half years as Duty Manager. From here I moved to chagall International and was with them for three years. This was a totally different experience for me and I'm grateful to Gerald Solomons for encouraging me to apply for Mrs. Sri Lanka for Mrs. Asia International 2013.

Q: Taking part in the Mrs. Sri Lanka contest would surely have been a different world for you. How did you far?

“I was young I was nervous and I'm basically a shy person. The thought of the pageant was overwhelming. I must say that Vasana Danthanarayana helped me in all aspects of the pageant. Not only did I win the title Mrs. Sri Lanka for Mrs. Asia International, but I also won some Mini titles such as Mrs. Personality Mrs. Photogenic, Mrs. Body Beautiful, Mrs. TV titles. It was all so exciting. I had 20 days to get ready and go to Kuala Lumpur for the Mrs. Asia International 2013 contest. Once again Vasana came to the rescue. She coordinated marvellously and Andre Stefan handled my clothes.”

Q: How was Kuala Lumpur?

There were 24 contestants from 15 countries. One time table for the week included sight seeing visits to orphanages where we presented gifts of toys from the different countries - it was a fun day.

For the Hawaiian night I wore a creation by Stefan while for the talent show, I performed a Bird Dance, the costume was again by Stefan. For my national costume it was a Sri Lankan Queen's costume. On the final day, I seemed to have got over my nervousness. My outfit was special. It was a red evening dress. When I came back to Sri Lanka with the crown, I was excited with the reception I received.

There were many interviews from the TV channels ITN, Rupavahini, Derana to name a few.

But most of all I was happy that after 27 years, when Rosy Senanayake my role model, won I was lucky to wear the crown and be a proud Sri Lankan.

Bird Dance for Mrs Talent	In 'National' costume	Mrs Asia International 2012