Carissa earned her master's degree in ministry leadership with a leadership coaching emphasis from Crown College. She also holds a bachelor's degree in music and linguistics from the University of Central Florida. Prior to joining the Alliance staff, Carissa worked as a high school English teacher, and she spent five years working with a church planting organization both in the U.S. and in India. Carissa used her church planting and ministry experience to help launch Alliance Church–Hortonville in 2021.

Carissa enjoys developing people through leadership coaching, training, creative and strategic planning, and improving processes to better serve teams. She also oversees the Leadership Residency program and the Align Leadership Institute.

In her spare time, Carissa enjoys biking, spending time with her nieces, dreaming up new business ideas, and traveling whenever and wherever she can.