Her Story
About Chehana
Chehana Samarawickreme is the Associate Director of Corporate Relations at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She works across all divisions of the organization, which maintains a portfolio of 28 historic sites and museums across the country along with a suite of for-profit and nonprofit subsidiaries. Her career has centered on generating revenue and new audiences from a social impact perspective, beginning with her first role supporting development and marketing teams at Habitat for Humanity where she knew immediately that she wanted to pursue corporate partnerships. She attended Earlham College, a small liberal arts Quaker school, and is a member of Ladies Get Paid. Samarawickreme attributes her success to having a clear sense of her goals and remaining open to learning from networks with diverse backgrounds, while placing high value on equitable and respectful interactions with everyone from the general public to C-suite executives.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Chehana
01What do you attribute your success to?
I've been very fortunate to have a sense of what I want to do and where I want to go. I've been very lucky to be involved in networks that are multi-sector with completely different backgrounds and ways of life, and that has really informed so much of the work that I do today. I really love hearing new perspectives and seeing if there's ways I can shift what I'm doing to improve. Learning, always being open to learning is really very helpful. And being grounded in the mission and the work and the story that I want to tell, that I feel really passionately about. The work always feels very grounding to me.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
When I first started doing corporate partnerships, I was very nervous handling calls and events. My boss at the time said, Shahana, you are the expert in the room for this organization. Focus on the goal, what would be a successful experience, and focus on the actual goal rather than getting in my head. Focus on the work, what is the goal, what is it that I want to accomplish, who do I need to connect with in this room, and then go there and make it happen.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It's so important to be a sponge and soak up as much information as you can, whether that's things you don't like, because that can help inform where you want to go. I really appreciated being able to look to mentors and learn as much as I could. I think I would do myself a disservice if I didn't want to learn something new every single day. I don't ever want to lose sight of that, so I hope to maintain that throughout my life.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Identity is something that's very important to me, and making sure that the work that I'm doing is really equitable and thoughtful. The interactions I have with people, whether it's someone the general public, or an intern, or a C-suite, I want to be able to come to that with the same level of respect for everyone. That's something that's very important to me.
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