She is known for her activism in environmental justice and urban sustainability, for which she was named a Champion of Change by the White House in 2014.

Jelks was born in Walnut Grove, Mississippi; her family later moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

[2] Her PhD was awarded in 2016, for a thesis titled Combined Environmental and Social Stressors in Northwest Atlanta's Proctor Creek Watershed: An Exploration of Expert Data and Local Knowledge.

[3] Her scholarship is focused on community engagement to identify environmental stressors in urban watersheds.

She is the board chairperson for the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, an organization that she helped found.