Mrs. Jyoti Yelagalawadi

Accreditation Liaison Officer, HUA

Jyoti Yelagalawadi has degrees in Sericulture (silk farming) from Mysore University and Computer Science from CUNY, Lehman College, with a minor in creative writing. She is also trained in Kathak and is pursuing her doctoral studies at HUA.

A natural storyteller, writer, and polyglot, Jyoti has varied interests ranging from drawing to rescuing cats and dogs. She managed a technical publication department in a software company until she decided to get back to her true passions — writing and working with children. Jyoti started a publishing company and a writing center to market books to children and mentored school-aged children to achieve their writing and publishing goals.

Many of her young students have won awards in short story and poetry competitions and have published their books. Jyoti Yelagalawadi developed a writing app, started a magazine showcasing young writers, and a storytelling channel after she brought her two companies under the single banner, Lekha Ink, Corp., of which she is now the CEO. She also played a big role in bringing out the first Hindu magazine for children with articles written by children and has choreographed large-scale dance dramas with children being the dancers.

Since her schooldays, Jyoti has been fascinated by the stories of Sri Krishna and his devotees. Meerabai and Purandaradasa’s songs brought Hindu philosophy close to her heart. Her love for stories and songs about dharma helped her research Hindu puranic stories, folk stories, and ballads from India and other indigenous cultures. Jyoti sincerely believes that the culture of a land is visible through the stories told by the folk of that land. She also believes that only children can create a world full of love and understanding. She hopes to cultivate the acceptance of peoples of diverse cultures in children by getting them interested in the stories of different lands.

Jyoti Yelagalawadi has volunteered at different levels in organizations like Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Samskrita Bharati, and with animal rescue organizations. She has authored eight storybooks and 83 books on the art of writing for children.