Vaishnavi Jayakumar was doing her MBA course when she decided to join her close friend Vandana Gopikumar in starting The Banyan in 1993. In their early twenties' at the time, the pair was propelled into action when they saw a half-naked mentally ill woman trying to cross the street outside their alma mater, Women’s' Christian College. Vaishnavi who had a knack for numbers shouldered the responsibilities of Administration and Finance while constantly engaging and challenging the team with her innovative ideas, activities and games as the Trustee for Human Resource Management at The Banyan. She is also a talented designer who enjoys creating awareness material on mental health or disability. Vaishnavi has a wide range of interests which include western classical music, history, anthropology, literature and crime science.Post-retirement Vaishnavi has been forcibly co-opted into the national advocacy arena where she indulges her anti-establishment side while questioning and evolving current paradigms of social policy process.Specialties: Organisational development, HR service delivery, Information Management, Financial Management, Marketing communication, Data Analysis,