Marissa is aN ARTIST who delights in CREATING THINGS that move culture forward ↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠

After earning a degree in Psychology from New York University, she got her professional start as the co-creator of the Shorty Award-winning viral social media movement #BlackoutDay and has been featured as a creative in campaigns like Tumblr’s #ExploreWhatYouLove digital series. From 2017 to 2025, she was known as “Mars” and operated Fourth Planet Consulting, working with various agency partners to create incredible work for brands. Her industry credits include Webby-nominated social and digital content, viral billboard copy, and other editorial and production work for client partners, including:

The Walt Disney Company, Lionsgate, MonkeyPaw Productions, Netflix, Girl Scouts of America, BuzzFeed, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Apple, and GIPHY.

Her debut book - Girls Can! Smash Stereotypes, Defy Expectations, and Make History! - is a collection featuring history-making women published by National Geographic Kids, and she is also a featured essayist in Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy. From 2022 - 2024, she completed a volunteer term as Director of Partnerships on the board of OffColour.org, a Gen Z- and Millennial-led media company striving for true diversity and inclusion in pop media.

Her passions have led her down the path of a true multi-hyphenate — she spends her time writing music, poetry, and creative fiction for film, television, and publishing, and pursuing the life of an amateur nature and astro photographer.

When she isn’t writing or shooting, she’s gardening or losing herself in her studies.

She’s currently a very stressed but very happy grad student studying conservation and island ecology.