Ishita is a Global South fellow at The Council with the Climate Resilience team. Her interest lies in assessing the vulnerabilities of ecologically sensitive ecosystems, the human population inhabiting these regions due to climate change, and investigating gaps in adaptation capacity to ensure long-term sustainability. She is also inclined towards documenting the narratives of local communities who are affected by the impact of climate change.

Her journey in environmental conservation commenced by working closely with agro-pastoralist communities in the Aravalli landscape. Her engagement aimed at not only restoring degraded grazing, forests and revenue wastelands but also strengthening community-led governance while re-installing a sense of pride in the community's local knowledge intricate to the landscape.

Before her involvement with the Council, Ishita worked with organizations like the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) and The Timbaktu Collective. She traversed through diverse terrains, from the pasturelands of Bhilwara District of Rajasthan to Gujarat’s tropical dry deciduous forests and the savannah grasslands of Anantapur. In these settings, Ishita engaged in grassroots interventions, assisting communities in Natural Resource Management, community-led water security planning, and securing collective tenurial rights over shared natural resources. She also mobilized the inclusion of women in decision-making processes, and their equal rights to access, use and manage forest resources.

Ishita holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism from Delhi University and a postgraduate degree in Development from Azim Premji University, Bangalore. Additionally, she is a member of the IUCN-WCPA young professionals network.