ABOUT
Otara Del Gunawardene was born on 30 August 1964 in Colombo, Sri Lanka the third child to Norman and Delysia Gunewardene. Her father was a former Chairman of Aitken Spence and her mother, Delysia, established the Chitra Lane School for differently-abled children.
Gunawardene attended C. M. S. Ladies College in Colombo, where she excelled in athletics and swimming, representing the country. Gunawardene graduated from Bowling Green State University, Ohio with a degree in biology.
In 1989, she started selling clothes from her vehicle trunk, which evolved into her first business, ODEL, on Dickmans Road in Colombo in 1990. By 2010, ODEL has eighteen outlets in Colombo.
In 1990, Otara married Raju Chandiram (m.1990-2007 ) and welcomed the birth of two boys, Kiran (1994) and Rakhil (2000).
In 2007, she launched the Otara Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to environmental and animal protection in Sri Lanka. Simultaneously, Gunawardene founded Embark, a fashion business that donates a percentage of its earnings to rabies eradication, canine immunizations, sterilization surgery, puppy adoptions, and street dog care.
On 11 September 2014 Gunewardene sold of all her shares in ODEL PLC to the Softlogic Group, to concentrate on Embark.
ADVOCACY
In 2015, Gunewardene initiated a campaign to persuade the government to pass the proposed Animal Welfare Bill, which garnered over 100,000 signatures and resulted in Cabinet approval at the time. This sparked a nationwide practice of drafting petitions for social concerns. She continues to campaign for the resuscitation and expediency of the Animal Welfare Bill, whose passage is now stalled.
In 2016, she initiated a campaign against the Dehiwala zoo, which resulted in the zoo upgrading the living conditions for wild animals.
In 2020, she founded Who We Are, an online platform to promote Sri Lankan entrepreneurs and small companies that sell local, eco-friendly, ethically sourced, cruelty-free, and sustainable products.
INTERESTS
ALS ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE
In 2014, cricketers Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge from Otara.