The Creative Odyssey Podcast
Feeling stuck, burned out, or lost in the daily grind? Discover how creativity can help you heal, find purpose, and reconnect with your true self.
Welcome to The Creative Odyssey Podcast—the show for anyone searching for meaning, inspiration, and a way out of burnout. Hosted by Sri Lankan-American storyteller Sheran Ranasinghe, this podcast explores the powerful link between creativity, mental health, and personal growth.
Each episode dives deep into real stories of transformation—how artists, entrepreneurs, teachers, and everyday people use creative expression to overcome depression, anxiety, and identity crises. Whether you’re an artist, a creative professional, or someone who hasn’t picked up a paintbrush in years, you’ll find hope, practical tips, and a supportive community here.
What You’ll Get:
- Inspiring interviews with creatives, healers, and thought leaders
- Raw solo episodes on overcoming creative blocks, burnout, and self-doubt
- Actionable advice for reigniting your creative spark—even if you feel numb or stuck
- Honest conversations about identity, purpose, and the healing power of art
Perfect for:
- Creatives, artists, and makers
- Anyone struggling with burnout, stress, or feeling lost
- Listeners seeking mental health support and personal transformation
- Those craving authentic stories and practical inspiration
You’re not broken—you’re becoming. Creativity is your compass.
Subscribe now and join Sheran on a journey to rediscover your voice, heal from burnout, and live a more creative, joyful life.
Episodes
40 episodes
She Never Called Herself Creative | Grace Abigail Devaprasath
Feeling like you're losing a race no one told you about is one of the loneliest experiences a creative person can have — and Grace Abigail Devaprasath spent years running it.📥 Get the Sri Lanka Podcast Tour Magazine:
From Actor to Tech Founder: Following Your Curiosity with Biman Wimalaratne
At the peak of an award-winning acting career — theatre in Sydney, agents in London and Australia — Biman Wimalaratne made a decision most people never do. He walked away. Not because he failed. Because he wanted to stop narrating other people'...
He Built a Studio in His Backyard. Now Sri Lanka's Biggest Brands Book It | Sachith Perera
Sachith Perera is an IT project manager who built a photography and video studio in his parents' backyard during COVID — not because he was a creative, but because he was curious.In this episode, Sachith breaks down how he applied the I...
She Codes AI & Games. Here's How She Defines Creativity | Himashi Naurunna
Engineering without creativity shows up in the product. Every time. Himashi Naurunna has been inside enough products to know — and in this episode she explains exactly what that means.📥 Get the Sri Lanka Podcast Tour Magazine — free dow...
He Builds Useful Things That Give a Lot of Value to a Lot of People | Tharaka Hettihamu
He didn't walk away from aircraft engineering because something better came along. He walked away because nothing he built ever reached anyone — and that was the only thing that mattered to him.Tharaka Hettihamu is a product manager and ...
He Had 8 Careers. None of Them Were Wasted. | Ammar Ahamed
What if every job you've ever had was building toward something you can't see yet?Ammar Ahamed didn't plan to become a growth marketer, a startup founder, or a skill development entrepreneur. He planned to be a journalist. Then HR felt ...
Building Open Source Synthesizers in Sri Lanka | Arunoda Susiripala
He wanted to make music. The instruments he needed didn't exist in Sri Lanka — too expensive to import, taxed at 50% on every component, impossible to hear or touch before buying. So Arunoda Susiripala built one from scratch. No electronics eng...
He Went to 11 Schools in 11 Years — Now He Runs a Startup Agency | Kenath Nicholas, LuminaSphere Media
Burned out and building anyway.Kenath Nicholas walked into Hatch — Sri Lanka's leading startup hub — broke, exhausted, and sat down next to an 18-year-old school dropout running a six-person agency. That moment didn't just inspire him. ...
From Medical Doctor to AI Startup Leader | Dr. Sithira A. | Hatch.lk Series
Walking away from a guaranteed career for life takes a specific kind of math. Dr. Sithira Ambepitiya did that math — and decided that treating thousands of patients across a lifetime couldn't compete with building AI that reaches millions.<...
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Ryan Rodrigo on Building a Brand Story, Authenticity & What School Did to Creative Kids
There's a version of Ryan Rodrigo that ended up behind a desk at a bank. He knows exactly who that version is — because he watched it happen to someone else.Ryan is 25. He's the Head of Brand & Marketing at Pepper Street, one of Sri...
There Are 4,000 Career Choices. You Were Shown 5. | Yusuf Hussain on Psychometric Assessment, Learning Styles, and Finding What You're Actually Built For
Nobody told you what you were actually built for. They handed you a list. You picked something. And then spent years wondering why it never quite fit.Yusuf Hussain nearly quit university in Florida because the way he studied — the only ...
She Painted a Phoenix at 30. No Plan. No Permission. Just Paint. | Michelle Therese Alles
Art was beaten out of her as a kid. At 30 — after a bad breakup, no roadmap, no plan — she sat in front of a teak almirah door and started painting. A month later there was a phoenix on it. Someone bought the almirah a month after that. She did...
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How to Think Like an Innovator: Fall in Love With the Problem, Not the Solution | Adhisha Gammanpila of Feynman
How to think like an innovator starts with one shift most people never make: stop building the solution you love and start falling in love with the problem in front of you. This episode is a masterclass in exactly that — from a quantum computin...
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How to Keep Going When You Want to Quit | Haritha Naurunna, Founder of Rivertune Games
Nobody told Haritha Naurunna he was allowed to build a game studio. He just started building.He graduated with a computer science degree in Sri Lanka at a time when the games industry had made big promises and kept almost none of them. T...
She Designs Spaces. She Tells Stories. — A Conversation with Interior Designer Sharon Joseph
Sharon Joseph has been an interior designer for fifteen years. And it took her almost all of them to fully call herself one.This is a conversation about what it really means to stay consistent, stay authentic, and stay on the creative pa...
Self-Taught Animator Builds Creative Business With His Wife | Meraki United | The Creative Odyssey PodcastUntitled Episode
What happens when one person's genius needs another person's entire life to exist?Randy Chriz Perera is a self-taught animator and visual artist based in Sri Lanka. His 2.5D animation style is so unorthodox that Adobe engineers requested...
This Is the Most Me I've Ever Been | Stephanie Kluk | Future Ink Graphics
What does it look like when someone stops performing a version of themselves and fully becomes who they always were?Stephanie Kluk is the founder of Future Ink Graphics (FIG) — a silkscreen printmaking studio, community gallery, and crea...
He Had No Home, No License & One Canvas. This Changed Everything. | Yves Santana | The Creative Odyssey Podcast
Black artist. Creative identity. Finding purpose through pain.Cleveland visual artist Yves Santana joins host Sheran Ranasinghe on The Creative Odyssey Podcast for one of the most honest conversations about the creative journey we have e...
Vanessa Eryn: Stop Hiding Your Creativity — On Identity, ADHD, Imposter Syndrome & Building Real Creative Community
What does it mean to stop hiding your creativity — not just think about it, but actually do it? In this episode of The Creative Odyssey Podcast, host Sheran Ranasinghe sits down with multidisciplinary artist, marketer, tattoo artist, and commun...
When Adulthood Killed My Art — And How I Found My Way Back | Alexis Hedderson
She sold her artwork. People bought it for a hospital. And she still didn't believe she was an artist.Cleveland artist and teaching artist Alexis Hedderson joins host Sheran Ranasinghe for one of the most honest conversations on The Crea...
Stop Creating FOR Your Art. Start Creating FOR People. | Bill Wade
Bill Wade has spent 40 years using dance to transform lives — from inner city kids in Cleveland, Ohio to stages across America, including the White House. As the founder and executive artistic director of Inlet Dance Theatre, Bill has built som...
He Lost His Creative Identity. Here's How He Found It Again. | Joel Negus
What does it mean to live creatively not just make art? And what happens when you lose touch with that part of yourself?In this deeply honest episode, Sheran Ranasinghe sits down with Joel Negus -composer, producer, double ...
Creativity Has Nothing to Do With Talent | The Creative Odyssey
What if creativity wasn’t just about talent — but about embracing all of who you are?In this episode of The Creative Odyssey Podcast, we’re joined by Shaun Sri Lanka (@shaunsrilanka), co-founder of Not Another A...
He Skipped the Degree and Built a Business Anyway | Arshad Ameer
What if success has less to do with your qualifications -and everything to do with how much heart you bring when things get hard?In this episode, Arshad Ameer, Co-Founder of FlashHealth, shares his story of resilience, curiosity, and bu...
The Math Professor Who Became a Songwriter | A Sri Lankan Creative Story
From Math Professor to Songwriter: The Untold Story of Sri Lanka’s Creative GeniusWhat happens when a Sri Lankan math professor reveals he’s also a songwriter and poet? In this inspiring episode, we dive deep into the life of a ma...