Manisha Priyadarshini is a descendant of the Taíno peoples and the Murmu clan of the Santali Tribe, and the founder of ProgramEarth, where she builds AI-driven environmental intelligence systems to support climate restoration, water resilience, and public-sector decision-making. Her work focuses on translating ecosystem behavior into policy- and investment-ready insights, developed with Indigenous and local stewards who guide monitoring design and interpretation.
Her path spans stewardship, climate policy, and digital transformation. She began in youth leadership with the Indigenous Environmental Network, followed by environmental and climate policy work under Julia Brownley. She later worked in large-scale technology transformation at Intel, and as a Solutions Architect at GitHub, where she advised public-sector and scientific institutions including NASA and NOAA on AI adoption, open-source systems, and data-driven decision infrastructure.
As founder of ProgramEarth, Manisha has self-funded and led efforts supporting restoration efforts across 2.5 million acres with hopes to grow to 17 million acress with an existing network of 120 Indigenous and grassroots organizations across Brazil, United States, and India. Today, she works with Tribal governments, water agencies, scientists, and policymakers to apply AI and environmental monitoring to land-based water replenishment, bioremediation, and ecosystem restoration.