Gender-based violence advocacy and peace advocacy Jayakumar formerly ran
The Red Elephant Foundation. She has worked as a volunteer with 16 civil societies and UN agencies through the UN Online Volunteering program. Jayakumar is a
columnist for the
Deccan Chronicle/Asian Age. Jayakumar is a Global
Youth Ambassador with A World at School, run by
Sarah Brown. Jayakumar created Saahas, a mobile app that helps survivors of gender-based violence find support and facilitates active bystander intervention. The app was listed on the Global Innovation Exchange and received recognition from DEF India's SM4E Awards. This work led to Jayakumar being shortlisted for the WATC 100 Women in Tech list. Jayakumar produced two e-Books on
entrepreneurship in
Africa with the
AAE. In 2013, she headed a team working to open the first school in Okoijorogu,
Nigeria.
Feminist Foreign Policy Jayakumar has served as a co-chair for the
Feminist Foreign Policy subgroup alongside
Mabel Bianco as part of the Women 7 during the German Presidency of the
G7 in 2022; and alongside
Muzna Dureid and Chia Nagashima as part of the Women 7 during the Japanese Presidency of the G7 in 2023. As part of her work at The Gender Security Project, Jayakumar centres a
decolonial feminist approach to foreign policy making and implementation.
Art Jayakumar previously ran an
Instagram-based project called
Femcyclopaedia, where she doodled portraits of inspiring women through the ages and from across the world. The story of
Femcyclopaedia won a Story Award from
World Pulse in February 2017. Jayakumar curated an exhibition for
International Women's Day and
Women's History Month at the
US Consulate General in Chennai as part of
Femcyclopaedia. In 2021, Jayakumar led an Instagram-based art project called "
A Girl and A Galaxy," where she created
space art. Her artworks, particularly those inspired by the findings of the
James Webb Space Telescope, were spotlighted on
NASA's official website for the telescope and their '#UnfoldTheUniverse' challenge.
Writing Stories of Hope, a collection of short stories, is Jayakumar's first solo book. She co-authored a book titled
Love Me Mama: The Unfavored 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 described the book as
“it embroiders a tapestry of unvanquished human spirit in words." The
Times of India reviewed it stating that "...''The Dove's Lament'' takes the reader to several such places with a compassion that shakes you to your very core."
Theatre Jayakumar is the author of the play,
Frankly Speaking. The play channels the voices of eight young women from conflict zones in different parts of the world, interspersed with passages from
The Diary of Anne Frank. She also wrote and acted in
HerStory, which brings twelve women from history alive through poetry, performed through contemporary dance and spoken word poetry. Jayakumar wrote a monologue and performed it as part of
Dolls, by Crea-Shakthi. Jayakumar voiced the audiobook of
Like A Girl by
Aparna Jain, where she narrated the stories of Justice
Leila Seth,
Mayawati,
Jayalalithaa,
Dipa Karmakar, Shah Bano Begum, Tessy Thomas, and
Gauri Sawant.
Public speaking In October 2016, Jayakumar 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. Jayakumar was a speaker at Lakshya-SSN's annual event, SYCON, speaking about her work with
The Red Elephant Foundation and the curation of the GBV Help Map. She was the keynote speaker at SRM Aarambh, speaking about her story as a social entrepreneur in the Gender Equality space. In April 2017, Jayakumar 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. Jayakumar was a speaker at ISFiT 2019 alongside
Tawakkol Karman and
Gro Harlem Brundtland, addressing women and peacebuilding.
Engagements in Multilateral Processes Jayakumar was one of the members of the Civil Society Committee that was convened by the UN-NGLS to support the selection of the UN Secretary General in 2016. In March 2021, Jayakumar spoke at a special session convened by the President of the UN General Assembly on Political Leadership and Violence Against Women and Girls: Prevention First (23 March 2021). She served as an advisor to the
G7 through the Women7 under the German Presidency of the G7 in 2022, the Japanese Presidency of the G7 in 2023, and currently under the Italian Presidency of the G7. On May 24, 2023, she spoke at a hearing on Gender aspects of defense, peace, and security organised by the FEMM Committee at the
European Parliament. ==Awards and recognition==