Meet Jyoti.
Educator, author, founder.

I analyze and create media that make children culturally visible across educational resources and learning environments.

By changing the way we communicate, design, and learn and teach, we can build more thoughtful, respectful, and joyful learning environments in children’s homes, schools, media, and communities.

3-to-8-year olds are clear-eyed and brilliant thinkers. They are the reason why my work works.

Rethinking Schools

McGraw Hills Wonders

As seen in

The Juggernaut

First, skin color.

In 2012 TEDxWomen approached me for what would soon become my first public talk since 4th grade! It was early days, but I was asking good ‘disruptive’ and systemic questions.

What I didn’t know was how definitively focused if somewhat altered purpose would become over the next few years later. Click below to watch (2-3 mins) of one of the origin stories of my work.

Now, culture.

I’m now working on my 2nd children’s book, entitled, Yesterday, Nexterday! It builds on conversations around identity and children’s impression and expressions on the theme of culture.

View the short video and follow me on Instagram to see where my work is heading. Original frameworks, and resources for educators, program directors, and Edtech teams to follow, so stay tuned!

  • “…engaging primer on embracing differences that deftly combines a narrative with hands-on learning.”

    —Kirkus Reviews

  • "…address[es] a topic that, it turns out, is critical for kids to grasp before taking on racism: colorism.”

    —Kelly Glass for The New York Times Wirecutter

  • “I’m getting so much interest, I’m going to make another round. I’ve never done that before!”

    —SHELBY KRETZ, Founder, Little Justice Leaders Subscription Box

  • "shows us how to notice differences and what to do when someone speaks to you wrongly."

    SHULI DE LA FUENTE-LAU, Founder, Asian Lit for Kids, mom of a girl

  • “…provocative and sensitive … variety of developmentally and culturally appropriate experiences and explanations…”

  • “…the content is profound and through the activities children can think and learn by themselves…"

    —FUMIKO MATSUYAMA, Mom of twin girls

Join Jyoti’s community!

Make art for literacy!

Access a free anti-bias, skin color-related activity for your class, art room, library, or home? Link below.

Download →

Want to book me?

I am available for speaking engagements at youth organizations, schools, and higher ed campuses.

Fill out this intake form. →

Are you an upstander!

Help grow the cultural visibility community. Amplify my work and introduce me to co-conspirators.

Email Jyoti →

I am an Indian-born, New York–based scholar-practitioner, writer, and educator focused on engaging children, youth, and their grown-ups on discourse around cultural visibility.

I have facilitated workshops and public conversations in schools, universities, museums, literary and cultural forums, including at TEDxWomen and the Jaipur Literature Festival. My work and commentary have appeared in Bitch! Media, The Washington Post, The Juggernaut, and Radio Free Brooklyn. My first children’s book, Different Differenter: An Activity Book about Skin Color (2019), has been included as an educational resource by The New York Times Wirecutter, Rethinking Schools, Social Justice Books, and McGraw Hill Wonders.

I am the founder of The Colo(u)rism Project (2012), an independent initiative that has expanded into an inquiry into childhood and identity formation. I received an Individual Artists Grant from Houston Arts Alliance for Putting the U in Color, a month-long exhibit examining colorism within South Asian communities.

My professional experience spans visual communication, nonprofit leadership, and consulting, including The Economic Times, J. Walter Thompson, Asia Society Texas Center, and TiE Houston, where I served as Executive Director. I hold master’s degrees in Media Studies and Liberal Studies from The New School and CUNY Graduate Center, respectively, and a BFA in Applied Art (Visual Communication) from Delhi College of Art. I live in Washington Heights with my teenage son, who enjoys flute, writing, and designing aerospace video-game things.