Over the last 15 years, I have had the distinct honor to exhibit my artwork all over the world at some incredible institutions such as museums, galleries, and art festivals. I’ve been able to bring this first-hand experience of developing succinct bodies of work and knowledge of working with these institutions to many college and university-level art programs in the country. I’ve lectured, critiqued, mentored, and held independent studies with undergraduate and graduate students and I’m proud to see my mentees succeed and thrive in the professional world. In addition to academia and my experience in the field as a practicing artist, I’ve also had the opportunity to be invited as a board member with several different non-profit organizations. During my time as a board member, I have curated and organized art shows, helped with the administration of fundraisers and galas, I’ve programmed relevant contemporary artist talks, and been a strong advocate for engaging a diverse audience by inviting young talent and nurturing public art in our community.

I have worked in various capacities from lecturer to thesis advisor with the School of Visual Arts. I have worked closely with students and the program director. I've held all-day workshops on long term storytelling as well as one on one critiques and it's been immense getting to know this department so closely.

ArtBridge is a non-profit organization that connects the public to the arts by empowering emerging artists and transforming urban spaces. I was invited to join the Artbridge board in 2015 by board president Stephen Pierson. Working closely with Stephen I have helped plan and execute the Artbridge spring and fall art auctions. I successfully invited over 40 key mid-career and established artists to donate artwork which directly translated to revenue. I have helped curate, write speeches, source volunteers and the result of this collective teamwork can be seen in the growing public art community that Artbridge team has built over the years.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to work closely with photo editors, art directors, graphic designers, and project managers. Freelance photography is all about collaboration. A successful project is a true result of good teamwork. I have worked on assignments such as annual reports, brochures, in-store displays, posters and newspapers and magazine features. The tasks I perform include ideating, planning and assigning responsibilities to a crew, directing and executing a pre-visualized shoot, editing, digital post-production and delivering color-managed files. http://www.manjarisharma.com

I was invited to join the Lois and Walter Capps Project in early 2017 by board president Todd Capps. Lois and Walter Capps Project believes that inclusive, authentic dialogue among people of all backgrounds is the heartbeat of a healthy democracy; it is essential in giving voice to those in society's margins, and critical in developing a culture of belonging, participation, and collaboration.

I was invited to join the ASMPNY board by the New York chapter president in 2008. I was chosen to run and coordinate events for this vibrant team and this allowed me to conceive and program for a field I was passionate about. It was a thrill to row that boat closely with other passionate board members. I worked closely with the Board President and extended team and suggested relevant events that engaged our members and the photography community at large. I arranged contemporary artist talks that were held at the School of Visual Arts. I also helped run and manage events like portfolio reviews where I invited a team of international level professionals that included curators, gallerists, art directors, editors and art buyers in the field of photography. This allowed me to develop a strong community and nurture relationships with industry professionals that I am proud to say are friends to this date.

I worked for three years formulating lesson plans and teaching young adults for SMAC, the Saturday Morning Art Classes program at Columbus College of Art and Design. I worked closely with students teaching them basic principles of how to use their digital cameras to get desired results, how to output their work into a computer, altering their imagery, how to use the scanner as a camera and then make a high-resolution final prints. My class was all about the basic principles of photography, composition, lighting, photoshop, and then printing. Our goal was to have fun, encourage curiosity and experimentation all while being creative and productive.

For this job at SNP I worked with a team of five photographers and reported directly to the Photography director, Tim Johnson. SNP consisted of 27 suburban news publication and 5 monthly magazines. I researched appropriate imagery on a database of 30,000+ files involving keyword-based searches to source out the appropriate photos to accompany articles for 27 publications. The in house software used here was a custom archival software called Media grid. I worked closely with the web team and print designer pitching ideas for page layouts. I updated the company web site weekly, posting approximately 200 articles, specialty pages, headliners, web galleries and events. People management was an important aspect of this job. I acted as the main link between the photo editors and photographers, layout artists, writers and editors in the company. I wrote and received a high volume of correspondence about schedules, shoots, production, and research. I managed the uptake of large volumes of images to the server, color-managed hundreds of images using Adobe Photoshop and prepared them for newspaper layouts. I worked with photojournalists on tight deadlines partaking in discussions on photo edits and choosing the appropriate embellishing imagery for the time-sensitive news pieces. In addition to handling tight schedules and deadlines, I also photographed a myriad of photography assignments from news to portraits and music concerts. It was an incredible experience to work here right out of college and I'm proud to have made the relationships and gotten such immense exposure right after my graduation.

Working in the communication dept. at CCAD, I played a part in group meetings with print co-ordinators and vis-com experts creating images ranging from portraits of graduating students to landscapes and still-lifes for the college viewbook. I single-handedly organized a database of 9000+ digital images. I self-trained in the use of Extensis Portfolio, After a dedicated year of scanning and key-wording, for CCAD this archive is something to be proud of.

Better Photography is a successful subscription based trade publication with a strong following all over south Asia. I was hired to join a team of 7 photojournalists and I worked closely with the editor of the magazine under tight production deadlines. This magazines focus was to explore the art and culture of photography in South Asia and particularly Mumbai. I played a key role at monthly editorial meetings where I suggested new ideas for the magazine, providing research-backed by current trends in the photography and design markets. My job profile included interviewing, writing, researching and photographing. I also reviewed state of the art photography equipment and coffee table photography books. I extended professional invites to established photographers in Mumbai, conducted interviews and wrote articles that served as an inspiration to emerging photographers. This job became a foundation for working collaboratively with a team and creating a monthly product that we were all proud of.