Neelima Mishra, graduated with an electrical engineering degree, however pursued her interests and completed her post-graduation in Forestry Management, from the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal to gain sector specific knowledge about the environment and sustainable development. Previously, Neelima has spent many years in a software development role with a multinational firm, however after a journey of personal transformation and reflection post her Masters degree and a remarkable internship experience with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) at Arunachal Pradesh, she chose to work towards nature conservation and sustainability. She currently works as a full time Consultant to the Government of Odisha on monitoring & evaluation of government schemes and scaling up of evidence based programes. This June, she was a part of the Climate Force Arctic Expedition, 2019, organized by the 2041 Foundation, whose founder is Sir Robert Swan, the first person in history to walk to both the Poles. She was the only participant from Odisha among 80 people from all over the world. This expedition, which was supported through crowdfunding and various corporate sponsorships, was an opportunity to learn the intricacies of climate change by seeing them real time and directly from the sustainability experts. It also provided a platform to exchange insights from peers and young leaders working on environmental issues from across the world. She takes a personal interest in creating awareness about the harms of single use plastic by addressing students in schools and conducting plastic sensitization sessions for corporates too after her Plastic Free July Experiences. With tragic experiences post cyclone Fani, she was decisive in introducing solar power at her residence and is in the quest for implementing rain water harvesting and a bio-gas unit by running pillar to post for subsidies and implementation support. Currently, she is in the process of registering Ceiba Green Solutions, a social enterprise focusing in the area of waste management, especially household composting. She is also a recipient of Edex 40 under 40 list of EcoSapiens by The New Indian Express in 2019.
