Hassina Leelarathna

Name

Hassina Leelarathna

Profile

Hassina Leelarathna is a Sri Lankan American journalist, editor, and publisher based in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. She co-founded and served as editor of the Sri Lankan Express, a community newspaper established in the 1990s that covered news, culture, and civic engagement within the Sri Lankan diaspora across California. Through her reporting and leadership, Leelarathna became one of the first Sri Lankan women journalists in the U.S. to publish a community newspaper focusing on both diaspora issues and cross-South Asian stories.

Her work has also appeared in broader South Asian and international media, where she continues to advocate for independent journalism and the representation of Sri Lankan voices in American media.

Position

journalist, editor, and founder of Sri Lankan Express

More Information

LA Times Newspaper Feature on Leelarathna

American Community Media article: Voice for the Sri Lankan Diaspora: Journalist and Activist Hassina Leelarathna Dies

Subject

South Asian journalism; Sri Lankan diaspora media; Bay Area South Asian press; women in journalism