“I am proud of a couple things—my openness to new ideas and my ability to adapt to challenges. But most importantly I am proud of my 13-year-old daughter. She is a good human being, and she is very caring, kind, and goes out of her way to help others. She is the kind of person that would happily give away all her hard-earned babysitting money just to get gifts for her friends.
Although I was born in Sri Lanka, my home has been New Hampshire for the past 20 years, and I have lived in the Upper Valley for the last 10 years. I originally moved here for work, which is in the treasury section of the finance department at Dartmouth College. My days include lots of number crunching!
My job mainly involves numbers, but there is an aspect that includes public speaking. I consider myself an introvert, so attending large social gatherings or leading meetings requires a lot of energy on my part. However, over the years I have picked up some tricks that have helped me greatly. It is easy for my speech to get ahead of my thoughts, so I use breathing techniques and focus on slowing down my speech. These two actions help keep me calm and ready to tackle my next presentation.
I live with my wife, my daughter, and my mother-in-law, and this year we have a new addition to our family—a foreign exchange student from France! My wife suggested it to me last year, and I thought, “why not?” It has been so great having her in our home. It is a wonderful experience to learn about her culture firsthand and teach her about our family in return. An added bonus is the opportunity for my daughter to have an at-home buddy to practice her French!
I try to live by the motto, “Do No Harm”. This ranges from people to things that do not have a physical voice, such as the environment. It is important to be mindful of the impact we have on the Earth. On that note, if I could snap my fingers and change one thing, I would end all the wars in this world. I hope that we can see more kind and courageous people rise up to make the change we need to see.”
– Nissanka Kiridena, Lebanon, NH
