Kirthi Jayakumar

Stories of Hope is Kirthi’s first solo book, comprising a collection of short stories. She co-authored a book titled Love Me Mama: The Unfavoured Child, along with Elsie Ijorogu-Reed, the founder of Delta Women NGO.She is also the author of The Dove's Lament, published by Readomania. The book was nominated for the Muse India Young Author's Award in 2015. A review by Femina of The Dove's Lament suggests that, "Kirthi embroiders a tapestry of unvanquished human spirit in words."

Kirthi was a speaker at ISFiT 2019 alongside Tawakkol Karman and Gro Harlem Brundtland, addressing women and peacebuilding.

She runs an Instagram based project called Femcyclopaedia where she doodles portraits of inspiring women through the ages and from across the world and curates their stories under these portraits. The story of Femcyclopaedia won a Story Award from World Pulse in February 2017.

In April 2017, Kirthi addressed the Rotary Club of Madras South on the topic "Women's Empowerment: Myths and Realities." She spoke at the Economic Times Women's Summit in March 2018, on her work with her app, Saahas.

Kirthi was featured on Google's WomenWill Landing page on International Women's Day, 2017, as part of a five-women-stories feature by World Pulse. She was declared as one of "eleven of India's feminist bloggers who are making a difference to women's lives" by Women's Web. She was featured on Show of Force: Social Good. She was awarded Outstanding Social Entrepreneur (NGO) of the Year, by FICCI FLO Chennai (2018) Kirthi received the Heroes of Chennai Award in the Social Good category in November 2018. She also serves as a member of the youth council as part of the Global Business Coalition for Education (GBC-Education).

In October 2016, Kirthi delivered a TEDx Talk at TEDxChennai, addressing her work around peace education as a solution to end bullying. In November 2017, she delivered a TEDx Talk at TEDxChoice, addressing her art project, Femcyclopaedia.

In November 2016, she delivered a talk at the National Edu-Start Up Conference in Pune, talking about Peace Education as a sustainable solution to create well rounded citizens.

In March 2016, she was one of the EU top 200 Women in the World of Development Wall of Fame. She was also one of the nominated changemakers for the United State of Women 2016. She is a two-time story award winner with World Pulse, and her work has been picked up and published by Time Magazine.

In September 2016, Kirthi was a shortlistee for the Rising Stars Award 2016 by We are the City India, which she went onto win. In October 2016, she was recognized as one of the "52 Feminists" by 52Feminists.com.

In October 2016, Kirthi was recognized as a Burgundy Achiever at the Digital Women Awards 2016, presented by She The People TV. She received the Peace Award from the Global Peace Initiative in November 2016. She was selected as an Impact Leader at World Pulse in November 2016. She won the Orange Flower Award for Video Blogging, awarded by Women's Web. Kirthi was featured in Sarah Brown's Better Angels Podcast alongside UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Harriet Lamb, and Jakaya Kikwete.

In 2015, Kirthi was nominated for the Digital Women Awards 2015, presented by She The People TV.

In 2013, Kirthi founded her own initiative, The Red Elephant Foundation. She produced two e-Books on entrepreneurship in Africa with the AAE and headed a team that worked for the opening of the first ever school in Okoijorogu, Nigeria, a village that had never had a school for its children until 2013.

Kirthi is the recipient of the United States Presidential Service Award from US Consul General Jennifer McIntyre. She won the Gold, Silver and Bronze awards. She received two United Nations Online Volunteering Awards, in 2012 and 2013, for her work with Delta Women and the Association for African Entrepreneurs.

She founded The Red Elephant Foundation, an initiative built on storytelling, civilian peace-building and activism for gender equality. She also founded The Gender Security Project, an initiative aimed at expanding the global understanding of gender at the policy, legal, and institutional levels. She is the author of Stories of Hope, a collection of short stories; The Dove's Lament, also a collection of short stories and Doodlers of Dimashq - A Heart Wrenching Tale of Hope From Syria's Rubble. She received the US Presidential Services Medal in 2011 and two United Nations' Online Volunteering Awards in 2012 and 2013.

Kirthi Jayakumar (born 15 December 1987) is an Indian women's rights activist, a social entrepreneur, a peace activist, artist, lawyer and writer. She is a Commonwealth Scholar, a Vital Voices (VV) Lead Fellow, a VV Engage Fellow, a Local Pathways Fellow, and a World Pulse Impact Leader. Kirthi is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.