- Miss Teen USA 2001
- She is the first person from Missouri to win the Miss Teen USA crown
- Marissa created the Diversity Club her senior year of high school that promoted student differences and service by volunteering at various organizations and events such as Habitat for Humanity, the AIDS Walk and the Martin Luther King walk in Springfield, Missouri.
- She was a varsity athlete excelling in both basketball and track and field. Her team made it to AAU Nationals in 1996 and played in Cincinnati.
- Marissa grew up in Springfield, Missouri which is Brad Pitt's hometown. They went to rival high schools and her first car was owned by Brad Pitt's mother.
- Marissa was voted Miss Congeniality at the Miss Missouri Teen USA 2001 Pageant and then went on to win the state title!
- She was voted Best Dancer of her senior class at Glendale High School in Springfield, Missouri.
- Larissa Meek, from Average Joe 2: Hawaii is a good friend and designed her website and was her big sister for a year while she was Miss Missouri USA when Marissa was Miss Missouri Teen USA in 2001.
- She enjoys philanthropic work including helping refurbish a Habitat for Humanity house that her sister and nieces live in! Other work includes being chosen as a spokesperson for the United Way of the Ozarks, serving food at Ground Zero after 9/11 and helping to speak to kids at the Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the nation.
- Has her own organizing business.
- Worked for The State of Illinois as a Marketing Assistant.
- Grew up with two cats, Sissy and Sylvester and a black Labrador, Casey.
- She was the Editor-in-Chief of her high school's Literary Magazine that won 2nd place in National Journalism Convention in San Francisco.
- Mother was Scotch-Irish, English, Indian decent.
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