Mandana is a Senior Journalist, Editor, Media Rights Activist, and Media Consultant. She has been in the field of journalism for the last 24 years. She started her journalism career at The Sunday Leader under the guidance of the late Lasantha Wickrematunge in 1998 and later became the Editor in Chief of The Sunday Leader between 2015 and 2016. She also served in several other posts at the newspaper from News Editor, Investigations Desk Head, Deputy Editor and Associate Editor during her tenure at The Sunday Leader.

Mandana has also won several journalism awards, including the Business Journalist of the Year on three occasions, Investigative Journalist of the Year, and Best Columnist of the Year at the annual award ceremonies organized by the Editor’s Guild of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Press Institute. She was also awarded the Women of Excellence in Media and Corporate Communications by Women In Management in 2012. She is currently the Editor in Chief of The Sunday Morning newspaper which was launched under her leadership in 2018.

As a media activist, Mandana formed the Sri Lanka Journalists’ Trade Union (SLJTU) in 2013 and also served as its President. She has played an active role in media rights and served as the Convener of the National Media Forum (NMF).

In 2014, she also worked briefly at TNL TV and while compiling the English news bulletin, she also conducted English political interviews for the channel.  In 2016, she served as a Director of People’s Power Media (Pvt) Ltd., which published the Sathhanda newspaper, and Chief Editor of Opportunity Sri Lanka (OSL), an investment promotions website.