Asini Wijewardane Shares Her Journey at Mental Health Startup "Uwill" and Passion for Social Impact Entrepreneurship
“A cause I’ve always been passionate about is mental health and wellness. Growing up in the South Asian community, I was not surrounded by many who spoke openly about emotional or mental health.” Today’s woman dreamer, Asini Wijewardane is the Director at Uwill, an organization focused on providing mental health services to college students. A global business leader, Asini has lived in Sri Lanka, the U.K. and Boston, and was named in Boston Business Journal’s 40 under 40 in 2021 and Poets and Quants’s Top 100 Best & Brightest MBAs globally in 2020. In her inspiring Women Who Win interview, she reflects on her work at Uwill, and passion for cause driven initiatives. Enjoy!
1. You are Director, Counselor Success at Uwill, an organization on a mission to support mental health in colleges, and were also on Boston Business Journal’s 40 under 40 2021. Tell us more about your journey, and what inspires you?
I’ve always been inspired by social impact, which may be rooted in my background growing up in a family of doctors and military personnel in Sri Lanka (a country that has one of the world’s highest rates of volunteerism). My drive started at a young age setting up societies in school to further social causes and volunteering, and has continued throughout my career, having primarily worked in non-profits and mission-driven organizations.
A cause I’ve always been passionate about is mental health and wellness. Growing up in the South Asian community, I was not surrounded by many who spoke openly about emotional or mental health. This passion was incited by my first job, which was at a cancer support center where my role involved connecting diverse cancer patients with support services and care. Seeing the impact this support had on those women made me passionate about the cause from that point on. Although I’ve had a variety of roles in the non-profit, consulting, and social enterprises since then, I had always been an advocate for this cause in my personal life, from helping friends connect with therapists to developing social media campaigns to enable peers to share their emotions during the pandemic. Therefore I was thrilled at the opportunity to join Uwill in a role that joins my personal and professional passions and allows me to work with an amazing team to help increase access to student mental health care.
2. Mental health is a key topic for women in college today, dealing with issues such as burnout, anxiety, generational trauma etc. How do you/your work at Uwill aim to help young women in their mental health journey?
Student need for mental health care has increased significantly in the last decade. Our mission at Uwill is to increase access to mental health care for students, aiming to help ensure that one day any student can connect to the care they need. Since 2020, we have partnered with 100+ colleges across the country to support 1M+ students. Students, including young women, love our platform as it is quick, easy-to-use, and provides free immediate access to a counselor that they choose based on any preferences, as our licensed counselors are diverse and experienced in all aspects of student-focused care. Uwill also provides a direct crisis connection for students dealing with mental health trauma. Further, as a way to complement therapy, Uwill also provides on-demand student wellness events to support students holistically on their wellness journey.
3. You have lived all over the world, such as in the UK, Sri Lanka, and now Boston. How has living in different countries made you the woman you are today?
I feel so grateful for these experiences which have enabled me to learn from and connect with people from so many different backgrounds, while also making me continually curious and eager to adapt and learn as well. I have also loved learning from so many unique aspects of each culture I’ve lived in, while also constantly being reminded - and surprised - about how similar every culture is as well.
4. If you could take on any new interest/hobby, what would it be?
Learning guitar. In my spare time, I love singing, songwriting and playing ukulele but I always wanted to learn more instruments!
Thank you Asini for sharing your inspiring story with us!
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Bio: Named in Boston Business Journal’s 40 under 40 in 2021 and Poets and Quants’s Top 100 Best & Brightest MBAs globally in 2020, Asini Wijewardane’s experiences and achievements span 3 continents and multiple sectors. Her broad range of leadership, operational and development experience includes business development, program development and project management roles in sectors including non-profit, healthcare and consultancy. She is currently Director, Counselor Success at Uwill, the leading teletherapy platform in higher education, and previously, she served as Director of Business Development at medical device company UrSure, managing their customer success team as well as account management and communication strategies through the company’s 2020 acquisition by Orasure. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Middlesex University, an LLB from University of London, an MBA from the Olin Graduate School at Babson College, and a Masters of Science in Analytics from Harrisburg Unversity.
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