Mayoni Senevirathna, also known as @senevni on Instagram is a travel content creator from Negombo, Sri Lanka but currently living in Italy.
Mayoni describes herself as someone whose love for travel runs deep; this ardent love for travel likely stemming from her upbringing amidst an extended family who were incredibly passionate about travel and also about enjoying life. “We never skipped a moment without capturing beautiful memories,” she said.
Her father was the one who inspired her to start taking pictures, being a photographer himself. She was his model and this beautiful past has influenced Mayoni in capturing the beauty around her. She shared that she chose Instagram as her platform to showcase her art at the age of 15 and as she slowly grew a following, she was presented with more and more opportunities to promote local businesses and then eventually to collaborate with brands.
Today, she is a globe trotter and a travel photographer and we had a few questions for the young girl experiencing a stunning love affair with travel, nature, and photography.
Besides the career opportunities it has presented you, how has travel influenced your life?
Travelling helped me to open my mind. I realised that there’s no one way to live life. Meeting people from other places showed me that my world view isn’t the same as everyone else’s, and that thought made me want to share my point of view about the beautiful places in the world.
I capture the beauty of the world according to my view, I edit them according to my taste, and at the end of it all, I share them with the world.
You’ve travelled a lot, can you share with us some of your absolute favourite destinations?
In the past few years I’ve been to so many beautiful destinations and from all of those destinations Val Di Mello can be considered as my favourite destination because I can still feel the fresh and unpolluted air that I inhaled just as soon as I got there. Val Di Mello is a beautiful countryside in Italy which is filled with beautiful sceneries; a river which goes through the village nourishing all the grasslands, and those grasslands are filled with thousands of cows who then give the fresh milk for the villagers to make fresh and delicious cheese.
We spent one whole day in that dreamy land; it took us an hour’s walk to finally jump into the cold water. Even though it was about a five-to-six-hour walk, it didn’t make me feel tired and that was really surprising. I swear I’ve never experienced anything like it – I can barely put it into words. All I can say is that the day I spent at Val Di Mello made me realise how it feels to breathe clean air and how it feels to live in an environment which is not polluted. I felt like I was in heaven. And that’s the most recent and beautiful instance I’ve experienced in my travelling life.
Your content is very personal to you, but in this saturated genre, how do you create content that stands out and is unique?
The presets. My presets and edits are the main features that make my Instagram page unique. If you go to my Instagram page you can see a clear difference between every preset. I differentiate colors in my feed. I usually use one preset at a time, and that makes my Instagram more attractive and unique.
Other than that, we all are different and unique in our own way. We have different creativity levels. So, my point of view is really what makes me unique from the others.
What was your experience during this pandemic?
Not going to lie, Covid-19 was literally a hurricane for me. I got really depressed; considering that I live in Italy, I saw people dying day by day. As a sensitive person, it was hard for me to bear. I even had to deactivate all my social media accounts in order to escape seeing and hearing the death rates. At the beginning I wanted to give up everything. But my friends and family were really helpful; they guided me to start from where I stopped. At first, it was really a challenge.
I had to keep creating and continue my niche. I shared old photos and the importance of following the guidelines in order to get back to our normal lifestyles. I had a Q&A session with my followers. I wanted to be more interactive with my people, show some love, and share each other’s ups and downs and be a little supportive in the way that I can.
Now the situation in Italy is way better than it was and people are getting back to their normal lifestyles, but unfortunately, Sri Lanka is going through its hardest time. All I have to say is hold on tight. Everything will be fine. Rely on positivity and believe in the good, and make sure to do your duty towards the country. The more you wait the more you will be rewarded.
You’ve overcome some difficult times, and the world is getting closer and closer to what it was before. What are your plans for the future?
My biggest plan is to start my own YouTube channel and I want to reach out to an international audience. I know lots of people in Italy who love to travel but have never been to Sri Lanka. I want to take my little island to the next level. The world should come and see the beauty of this precious pearl in the Indian Ocean. If I can promote my country and take it into an international audience it will brighten many people’s lives. It will bring prosperity to our country and as always my future plan is to use my platforms in a fruitful way to share the beauty of this world – especially the beauty of Ceylon.
Instagram: @senevni
Mayoni describes herself as someone whose love for travel runs deep; this ardent love for travel likely stemming from her upbringing amidst an extended family who were incredibly passionate about travel and also about enjoying life. “We never skipped a moment without capturing beautiful memories,” she said.
Her father was the one who inspired her to start taking pictures, being a photographer himself. She was his model and this beautiful past has influenced Mayoni in capturing the beauty around her. She shared that she chose Instagram as her platform to showcase her art at the age of 15 and as she slowly grew a following, she was presented with more and more opportunities to promote local businesses and then eventually to collaborate with brands.
Today, she is a globe trotter and a travel photographer and we had a few questions for the young girl experiencing a stunning love affair with travel, nature, and photography.
Besides the career opportunities it has presented you, how has travel influenced your life?
Travelling helped me to open my mind. I realised that there’s no one way to live life. Meeting people from other places showed me that my world view isn’t the same as everyone else’s, and that thought made me want to share my point of view about the beautiful places in the world.
I capture the beauty of the world according to my view, I edit them according to my taste, and at the end of it all, I share them with the world.
You’ve travelled a lot, can you share with us some of your absolute favourite destinations?
In the past few years I’ve been to so many beautiful destinations and from all of those destinations Val Di Mello can be considered as my favourite destination because I can still feel the fresh and unpolluted air that I inhaled just as soon as I got there. Val Di Mello is a beautiful countryside in Italy which is filled with beautiful sceneries; a river which goes through the village nourishing all the grasslands, and those grasslands are filled with thousands of cows who then give the fresh milk for the villagers to make fresh and delicious cheese.
We spent one whole day in that dreamy land; it took us an hour’s walk to finally jump into the cold water. Even though it was about a five-to-six-hour walk, it didn’t make me feel tired and that was really surprising. I swear I’ve never experienced anything like it – I can barely put it into words. All I can say is that the day I spent at Val Di Mello made me realise how it feels to breathe clean air and how it feels to live in an environment which is not polluted. I felt like I was in heaven. And that’s the most recent and beautiful instance I’ve experienced in my travelling life.
Your content is very personal to you, but in this saturated genre, how do you create content that stands out and is unique?
The presets. My presets and edits are the main features that make my Instagram page unique. If you go to my Instagram page you can see a clear difference between every preset. I differentiate colors in my feed. I usually use one preset at a time, and that makes my Instagram more attractive and unique.
Other than that, we all are different and unique in our own way. We have different creativity levels. So, my point of view is really what makes me unique from the others.
What was your experience during this pandemic?
Not going to lie, Covid-19 was literally a hurricane for me. I got really depressed; considering that I live in Italy, I saw people dying day by day. As a sensitive person, it was hard for me to bear. I even had to deactivate all my social media accounts in order to escape seeing and hearing the death rates. At the beginning I wanted to give up everything. But my friends and family were really helpful; they guided me to start from where I stopped. At first, it was really a challenge.
I had to keep creating and continue my niche. I shared old photos and the importance of following the guidelines in order to get back to our normal lifestyles. I had a Q&A session with my followers. I wanted to be more interactive with my people, show some love, and share each other’s ups and downs and be a little supportive in the way that I can.
Now the situation in Italy is way better than it was and people are getting back to their normal lifestyles, but unfortunately, Sri Lanka is going through its hardest time. All I have to say is hold on tight. Everything will be fine. Rely on positivity and believe in the good, and make sure to do your duty towards the country. The more you wait the more you will be rewarded.
You’ve overcome some difficult times, and the world is getting closer and closer to what it was before. What are your plans for the future?
My biggest plan is to start my own YouTube channel and I want to reach out to an international audience. I know lots of people in Italy who love to travel but have never been to Sri Lanka. I want to take my little island to the next level. The world should come and see the beauty of this precious pearl in the Indian Ocean. If I can promote my country and take it into an international audience it will brighten many people’s lives. It will bring prosperity to our country and as always my future plan is to use my platforms in a fruitful way to share the beauty of this world – especially the beauty of Ceylon.
Instagram: @senevni