Have you ever fantasized about pursuing a specific career while believing that it was a far fetched dream? After approaching Mari’s 9th year of motherhood and investing 10 years in telecommunications, she decided to open a new door that lead to modeling.

Marissa was born in San Francisco, CA and has lived throughout the Bay Area. Throughout her life, she has stayed actively involved with sports while maintaining a balance with nourishing her mind and spirit. She spends a large portion of her time working as a Voice over IP engineer. When time permits for extra curricular activities, she involves herself with outdoor sports, such as mountain bike riding, hiking, snowboarding, and whitewater rafting.

 

Modeling wasn’t a career that Marissa thought she could do well in, considering that she was a career oriented single mother, who believed that modeling was primarily for people with the perfect or almost perfect body with a flexible schedule. Butterflies swarmed throughout her body due to stepping into unfamiliar territory where a person’s physical appearance was heavily relied on. Throughout her modeling career, she has expanded her modeling portfolio through working with a variety of photographers. Some of her pictures are used for magazines, businesses, art galleries, and event flyers. She made front cover for SlipperyGirl.com and BubbleShake Magazine, and as a featured model in Tear Sheet and Damn Girl Magazines and VisualChameleon.com. Modeling has opened multiple doors that lead her into hosting concerts and club events. She built her own business, called Scintillating Entertainment, which provides all the necessities for event planning and promotions, along with live entertainment and video and photography coverage. Her business provides a variety of services, which include fashion shows, model contests, exotic dancers, and music artist performances.

 

Marissa encourages people to seek and pursue their dreams regardless of how out of focus the distant vision may appear. We all have our fair doses filled with struggles that we mask with smiles. Sometimes, we dwell so much over our inner battles that we unconsciously forget about the countless blessings that are within our reach and readily available to be embraced. Unfortunately, not every gift is experienced with desirable feelings. We are constantly judged by others; but through pure commitment fueled with passion, we can attain what we once thought was impossible.