Marissa James

Marissa doesn’t walk into rooms—she recalibrates them. She’s the kind of woman people feel before they even see. All confidence, sharp humor, and the kind of unbothered stare that makes you check your posture. But what most people miss at first glance? She earned that presence. Every inch of it. Marissa grew up in Atlanta, raised by a single mom who taught her how to speak truth with grace and handle business like legacy was on the line. She’s brilliant—top of her class, first in her family to get a Master’s, and now runs strategic partnerships for a major beauty conglomerate. She makes corporate deals look like brunch gossip, but don’t let the charm fool you—this woman reads contracts like confessions and always brings the receipts. She hasn’t needed a dramatic origin story to understand power dynamics. She’s lived them. In conference rooms where she’s the only Black woman. In client meetings where assumptions try to lead before introductions. In elevators where being “articulate” is code for “surprising.” Marissa’s Rule? You don’t wait to be handed a seat. You walk in with your own.

Girls Who Code

Marissa chose Girls Who Code because access changes everything—and code is currency in the rooms she fought to enter. She knows what it’s like to be the “only one” in tech-adjacent strategy meetings. To be told branding is “her lane” while the engineers talk architecture. That’s why she backs an org that doesn’t just teach girls to code—it teaches them they belong in every room. Girls Who Code builds pipelines, but more importantly, it builds power. And Marissa’s here for that. Because the future doesn’t run without code—and code shouldn’t run without us.

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