She who wishes
Pathanny
Pathanny is the female derivative of the Sinhala word Pathannā, which means "the one who wishes".
Yasodhara Pathanjali is a British Sri Lankan Life Coach, Creator, Educator, Activist and Founder of Sri Lanka's first formal modern alternative school.
Born in London, Yasodhara has worked from the age of 16 years, starting as a retail assistant in a shoe shop on Kensington Hight Street. She has worked in a myriad of industries and settings, including retail, hospitality, real estate, travel & tourism and the UK government.
In 2014, Yasodhara embarked on her social media journey, at first to share her paintings and creative journey, and so "Yasodhara Pathanjali" went from a signature on a painting to being a social media persona.
Today Yasodhara uses her social media presence to connect with her audience on diverse topics ranging from parenting, education, women's rights, anti-colonialism, the environment and sustainability amongst others.
Having left the UK, for Sri Lanka, in 2016, Yasodhara shifted her focus to creative areas, including paintings, designing and writing children's books.
She went on to paint Sri Lanka's largest painting, a mural of 100sqm, in 2018, which explored "wilderness".
Alongside this she also strengthened her coaching work, establishing a strong presence as a Parenting, Empowerment and Education Coach, with clients spread out across Australia, US, UK, France, Singapore, India and Sri Lanka.
In 2022 Yasodhara and her husband decided to start Sri Lanka's first formal alternative/modern school. Having worked in the homeschooling sector for more than a decade, and having worked as a private tutor since the age of 14 years, Yasodhara is passionate about personalised, respectful and autonomous education, as she sees personalised education as the key to success in an AI driven future.
Additionally, Yasodhara is a speaker and workshop facilitator on domestic violence and childhood sexual abuse as a survivor, and on AI future, Education and Empowerment.
In 2023, Yasodhara Pathanjali gave her first keynote address at the International Democratic Education Conference (Kathmandu) on the topic of " Mitigating risk for parents in Democratic Education".
She has also been a panelist on many forums including American Chamber of Commerce, multiple NGOs and corporate organisations in Sri Lanka.