PODCAST · arts
The Creative Odyssey Podcast
by Sheran Ranasinghe
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, a
Episodes
-
Finding Ikigai: Farhaz Farouk's Journey of Self-Discovery and Coaching
He spent two decades in banking and oil and gas before walking away at 47 to figure out what he actually wanted. 📥 Grab the Sri Lanka Podcast Tour Magazine:...
-
From Biscuit Pudding to Media Empire — Hashan Hettiarachchi on Failing Forward and Building Three Circles
Two failed startups. A biscuit pudding business that lasted until the second COVID wave. A viral hotel video shot on an iPhone 6S with a GoPro. A $15 Fiverr order that became film school. This is how Hashan Hettiarachchi built Three Circles — a creative production and events company now operating...
-
Producer Talks Ep. 1: 8 Creativity Myths That Are Quietly Lying To You
For 25 years, Lizzie Ranasinghe insisted she wasn't creative. She drew constantly. She did calligraphy. She built her own greeting card business on the side. And she still believed the myth that creativity belongs to a certain kind of person. This is the first episode of Producer Talks — a new...
-
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's stories and start living his own. Now he's Chief...
-
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 IT concept of minimal viable product to launching Creator…
more -
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 download:...
-
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 builder working at the intersection of agritech, AI, 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 safer. Then PR felt right. Then employer branding took him...
-
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 engineering background. Just the internet, AI, and a...
-
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. It broke something open. Now he's the Founder and CEO of...
-
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. Recorded at Hatch.lk startup hub in Sri Lanka, this…
more -
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 Lanka's fastest-growing fashion labels, with its own...
-
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 way he had ever been taught — was the worst possible method...
-
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 didn't even know she could paint until the moment she...
-
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 computing founder who has been doing it since he was 14 years...
-
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. The jobs weren't there. The infrastructure wasn't there....
-
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 path when the world keeps offering you easier exits. Sharon...
-
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 his files to study how he was using their software in ways...
-
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 creative incubator based in Cleveland, Ohio. She has spent over...
-
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 ever recorded. He was driving himself to school without a...
-
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 community builder Vanessa Eryn at Future Ink Graphics in...
-
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 Creative Odyssey Podcast — about the moment adulthood quietly...
-
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 something rare: a professional contemporary dance…
more -
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 bassist, and co-founder of Cleveland Scoring to explore the tension…
more -
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 Agency (@naa.srilanka) and the visionary behind Paraiso SBKZ (@paraiso.sbkz) - the…
more -
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 building something meaningful in the middle of uncertainty.…
more -
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 Genius What 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 man who defied expectations, blending logic and creativity to break...
-
Burnout Almost Ended My Creative Life. Here's What Saved It.
Are you feeling stuck, burned out, or just going through the motions? In this episode, I share my raw, personal story of hitting rock bottom as an executive chef—and how creativity, art, and play helped me find hope and purpose again. You’ll hear about: The warning signs of burnout and depression...
-
Going Solo Was the Scariest Decision I Ever Made. It Was the Right One.
What happens when the thing you built with someone you admire… no longer feels aligned? In this deeply honest episode, I share the story behind one of the hardest creative decisions I’ve ever made: telling my podcast co-host I needed to go solo. Not because of conflict. Not because of ego. But...
-
How Storytelling Changes Lives | Sunami Rodriguez & Mason Bufkin
What does it mean to choose the creative path—again and again—when it doesn’t promise stability, clarity, or even recognition? In this episode of The Creative Odyssey, we’re joined by two storytellers from vastly different disciplines but deeply connected by purpose: Mason Bufkin, an author and...
-
They Didn't Wait for Permission to Build | Charles Pratt & Kyra Wells
What if you stopped waiting for permission—and just started building? In this episode of The Creative Odyssey Podcast, we sit down with Charles and Kyra, the creative powerhouse behind Breakthrough Sounds, one of Cleveland’s rising creative hubs. Their story is anything but typical—no funding, no...
-
Stop Waiting to Be Perfect. Get Curious Instead.
In this episode of The Creative Odyssey Podcast, we explore the power of curiosity over perfection in the creative process. Whether you're a musician, writer, filmmaker, or any type of creator, perfectionism can be the biggest roadblock to progress. We discuss how embracing curiosity, prototyping...
-
How to Trust Your Creative Rhythm When Everything Feels Off
In this episode of The Creative Odyssey Podcast, Sheran and Ben dive into the transformative power of embracing curiosity over perfection. They reflect on lessons from the Odyssey Sounds creative meetup, the Cleveland 48-Hour Film Festival, and their recent jam session, exploring how…
more -
Three Artists on Music, Passion and What It Actually Means to Create | Caleb Cameron, Emanuel Zerbo, Jeff Obrez
In this episode, we explore the world of artistic expression with three talented guests: Caleb Cameron, and The Zerbo Brothers; Emanuel & Joseph. We explore how music serves as a powerful outlet for creativity, providing both joy and a means of self-discovery. Caleb Cameron starts with how an...
-
How the People Around You Either Kill or Fuel Your Creativity | Joey Liberatore
Creative Odyssey Podcast Ep7 : Unleashing Creativity with Joey Liberatore In this exciting episode of "The Creative Odyssey," Sheran and Ben welcome their first guest, Joey Liberatore, a musician with a deep passion for creativity. Joey shares his journey from learning to play the guitar to...
-
Why Creatives Fear Change (And How to Move Through It Anyway)
In this episode we discussed the Prototype idea from our previous conversation and tested various creative block scenarios against it, finding that most passed. Feeling confident, we applied it to tackle our perfectionism, but the process felt unnatural and hindered our creativity. This tension...
-
How to Become Creative-Block-Proof
Last episode we delved into refining our creative process with a focus on authenticity. We acknowledged that the initial rush of creation, that burst of inspiration every creative feels, shouldn’t be expected to sustain throughout the entire process. In this episode we discuss the importance of...
-
What Your Creative Block Is Actually Trying to Tell You
In this podcast episode, we discuss the concept of creative block, noting that while it is a familiar term, its experience can vary greatly among individuals. We reflect on personal experiences of creative blocks, describing how initial excitement about a project can fade when the final product...
-
You Are a Creative. Here's How to Own It.
In this podcast episode, Ben & Sheran discuss their creative journeys, reflecting on their early experiences and how they recognized themselves as creatives. They share personal stories from their childhood, such as Ben's early fascination with a piano and synthesizer, and Sheran's discovery of...
-
The Question Every Creator Needs to Answer: Are You Actually Creative?
In episode 2, Ben & Sheran discuss their creative journeys, reflecting on their early experiences and how they recognized themselves as creatives. They share personal stories from their childhood. They explore the pivotal moments that ignited their creative passions and how cultural and societal...
-
Why the Most Important Thing a Creative Can Do Is Reach Out
In this first episode, Ben and Sheran recount their friendship's origin. They highlight the importance of meeting and collaborating with like-minded creative individuals. Despite initial insecurities and doubts about their creative capabilities, they emphasize the power of simply asking to...
-
The Creative Odyssey Podcast Trailer
Welcome to The Creative Odyssey Podcast, where we dive deep into the creative process with unique perspectives, one being all the way from a tiny island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and one, born and raised in the beautiful Buckeye State. But seriously, though, we're all about being raw and...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
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, a
HOSTED BY
Sheran Ranasinghe
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Creative Odyssey Podcast have?
The Creative Odyssey Podcast currently has 43 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Creative Odyssey Podcast about?
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...
How often does The Creative Odyssey Podcast release new episodes?
The Creative Odyssey Podcast has 43 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Creative Odyssey Podcast?
You can listen to The Creative Odyssey Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Creative Odyssey Podcast?
The Creative Odyssey Podcast is created and hosted by Sheran Ranasinghe.
URL copied to clipboard!