Dharshani is currently a PhD scholar at the Faculty of Information Technology of Monash University, Australia. She completed a Bachelor of Arts degree with First-class Honours (Sociology) at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka in 2014. Her research interests are focused on digital ethnicity, social influence in social networking sites, volunteer tourism, and gender empowerment. She formerly served as a temporary lecturer at the Department of Sociology of the University of Peradeniya. In addition, she has over 6 years of extensive working experience in the empowerment of marginalized women. Dharshani has worked closely with several local organizations in Sri Lanka on program development, fund raising and program evaluation. In the corporate sector, she holds more than five years experience with international companies in business development, management and quality assessment and control.