Marisa is the Development & Communications Director at Independent Shakespeare Co. (ISC) in Los Angeles, best known for the annual Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival. ISC is a company of artists and staff of diverse ethnicities, reflecting the vibrancy of our Los Angeles community. ISC is the 2018 recipient of the Paul Robeson Citation Award from Actors Equity Foundation and Actors Equity Union.

Before entering the nonprofit arts sector Marisa worked in the television industry for twenty years as a producer for MTV, TLC and HGTV.

As a kid growing up in Vancouver, Canada, Marisa trained in classical ballet with Choo Chiat Goh and Lin Yee Goh at the Goh Ballet School, and spent her summers studying in New York City at the Joffrey Ballet School, with Melissa Hayden, and with Douglas Wassell.

Marisa holds a B.A. in English from Barnard College, Columbia University and a Masters in Arts Management from Claremont Graduate University. She serves on the board of the Kenneth Walker Dance Project, a contemporary ballet company based in the South Bay.