hi, i'm shonottra
I'm a digital communicator, human rights advocate, and recovering lawyer who believes good storytelling can move people to care — and then to act.
My path here was anything but straight. I trained as a lawyer in Mumbai, went on to study international and comparative law at Trinity College Dublin, and spent years trying to figure out where I actually belonged. The answer, it turned out, wasn't in a courtroom. It was in the space between law and people - translating complex systems into language that felt human, building campaigns that turned understanding into action, and asking who gets to tell whose story.
I've worked across legal research, civic technology, policy outreach, digital communications and fundraising - in India and Canada, with organizations ranging from legal awareness startups to global human rights institutions. At Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, I helped make India's laws more accessible through Nyaaya.org, including building a video production initiative from scratch. At Civic Innovation Foundation, I worked to open up India's lawmaking process to ordinary citizens. At Amnesty International Canada, I work on digital campaigns and supporter journeys that translate solidarity into real impact.
In 2023, I received the Gender Bender Award for creating Suraksha Kosh - an illustrated legal lexicon in English and Hindi for domestic violence survivors, because no one should have to navigate a police station or courtroom without understanding the words being used about them.
I'm also a maker. I've illustrated annual report covers, contributed a zine entry to Agami's Justice Makers Journal - a collection of stories about young people reimagining justice in India - and drawn the illustrations for the first edition of Suraksha Kosh myself.
There's something that happens when you have to draw an idea rather than just write it: you're forced to find its essential shape. That discipline shows up in everything I do, whether I'm drafting a fundraising email, designing an outreach strategy, or figuring out how a handbook about climate policy reaches a farmer in rural Maharashtra via the radio. I'm drawn to the question of form - not just what needs to be said, but what vessel will actually carry it to the person who needs to hear it.
I'm most at home where creativity meets purpose. I care deeply about access to justice, the ethics of how we tell stories about marginalized communities, and the quiet power of a well-written email to a first-time donor.
Currently, I'm based in Toronto. I also volunteer with Toronto Cat Rescue, because sometimes the most important work is keeping something small and vulnerable safe.
shonottra kumar
Experienced communications consultant. Building and mobilizing digital communities for human rights.