Marissa Castro Mikoy began her post-college career as an AmeriCorps VISTA member for the nonprofit University Settlement in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. After her time in New York, she returned to her home state of Texas and led an Even Start Family Literacy Program for under-resourced families in West Dallas. The program focused on arming parents with the skills and knowledge to not only to be their child’s first and most important teacher in life, but to also propel their own education by way of attaining their GED and gaining access to college or a trade.
Marissa then went to work with United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and raised more than $1 million on behalf of hundreds of different local, state, and national nonprofits through the State Employee Charitable Campaign and the Dallas City Charitable Campaign. She then moved to Washington, DC, and went to work for First Book, a national literacy nonprofit that provides free books to schools and nonprofits throughout the United States.
Wanting to return to making more of a “direct impact,” Marissa went to work for the DC community organization CentroNia where she was the founding Director of a bilingual early childhood satellite location for more than 100 under-resourced families. After leading that program for four years, she went to work for the DC Public Charter School Board and served as an early childhood specialist and oversight officer for DC Public Charter Schools.
Marissa has returned to Texas and serves as the Director of Operations and Evaluation for the Teaching Trust, an education reform, principal preparation nonprofit. She lives in Richardson, Texas, with her husband Chris and 2-year-old son, Xavier. In 2012, Marissa was honored as a Champion of Change during AmeriCorps Alums Day at the White House.