July 8, 2025 – What does leadership mean when it emerges from poverty, loss, and invisibility? The HopeWorks Foundation is responding to this question in extraordinary ways by recasting girls from India’s most marginalized communities as leaders of their own destiny and agents of change in the lives of others.
HopeWorks CEO and founder Jacintha Jayachandran describes a profoundly personal shift in her approach to leadership. “When we started our scholarship program, I thought making education accessible was sufficient. Now I understand that leadership is not born its developed. And sometimes, it starts where hope appears to be most invisible.”
This epiphany was ignited by Manicka Valli, a formerly shy student from Madurai whose life was disrupted by poverty and family tragedy. Now, Manicka is a confident history graduate, state-level athlete, and LIFTS scholar who speaks eloquently about her dreams. “She taught us that leadership is not a gift it’s grit in action,” Jayachandran explained.
Since its founding, HopeWorks has served more than 5,100 students, granted 1,427 scholarships, delivered 10,000+ menstrual supplies, and served 115,288 meals. But behind all the statistics, it’s the internal changes that truly matter.
Girls such as Shakthipriya, who once wrote off her entrepreneurial aspirations as “unrealistic,” now owns Millecious, a millet food business, part-time alongside her full-time finance job. Or Priya Jennifer, who transformed from a reluctant life-skills training attendee into the head of 400 employees at Brinks India after standing up and saying she was ready to manage.
These aren’t individual anecdotes they’re indicative of a change in what empowerment actually is. “We came to understand that access wasn’t sufficient. We needed to break down the constraining beliefs girls held about what’s possible for them,” Jayachandran said.
The impact of the foundation ripples out further than the individual. More than 40% of HopeWorks alumni come back as mentors, creating a leadership ripple effect. Past recipients now instruct younger students, lobby for menstrual health in slum areas, and start micro-enterprises.
This model is aligned with six UN Sustainable Development Goals, ranging from Gender Equality and Quality Education to Good Health & Well-being and Decent Work. Expansion to nine new locations, including Odisha, Pune, and Gulbarga, is currently on the cards for HopeWorks. Strategic collaborations with organisations such as Infosys Springboard, Buzz Women, Mentor Together, and SVATAH Foundation are facilitating this comprehensive development strategy.
The question ahead isn’t just about growth it’s about sustaining transformation. “We’re not only scaling numbers. We’re scaling belief systems,” Jayachandran emphasized. “Because once a girl sees herself as a leader, she doesn’t just transform she transforms the world around her.”
HopeWorks’ vision for 2026 is to directly serve 1,000+ girls and impact 80,000+ through advocacy. But most importantly, it seeks to redefine the narrative about what leadership is beginning from the edges and moving towards influence.