NWAHBA New Executive Officer

by | Aug 31, 2016 | Newsletters, Uncategorized

We have hired a new Executive Officer!


Marissa Fahrig was born and raised in Joplin, Missouri and moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas a little over a year ago. She has been married for 7 years to Scott Fahrig, they have two cats together. They both enjoy working with abandoned and homeless animals. She enjoys spending time with her close friends, Both Scott and Marissa are both only children and value their friends as family. Marissa is running the Chicago Marathon in October, “I’m a little nervous but excited to complete this big life challenge”.

 
Education:

Marissa has a Master’s in Business Administration from Missouri State University, “business has always made sense to my little brain”. She feels that working as a manager in a NPO is one of the most entrepreneurial endeavors and person can undertake.
Marissa currently teaches online classes at Missouri Southern State University, and enjoys working with students at all age levels but college is particularly fun. “My love for school has always been a constant, I’d love to go back again!”

Work History:

In 2010, Marissa aided in the creation of a NPO called Art Feeds, Art Feeds does therapeutic art and creative education with elementary aged students. She wore many hats at this rapidly expanding organization from Director of Finance, to Intern Manager, to Merchandise Manager to the unfortunate office plumber role. “After the May 2011 tornado, the need for our organization expanded rapidly, we were fortunate enough to be a part of so many amazing experiences and help the next generation of our community heal from this natural disaster. Art Feeds received a Mobile Art Studio from ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition following the May, 2011 tornado to aid in our outreach efforts. We were also fortunate enough to participate in NBC’s Great American Giving Awards and Vh1’s Do Something Awards, these were amazing platforms to promote our growing cause. Art Feeds also partnered with an organization based in Ghana, West Africa whose mission was to rescue children from child slavery in the fishing industry. We were able to travel to Africa, meet students, see slavery first hand and design specialized therapeutic art programs that fit these students specific needs. During this process we teamed up with a few designers from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to design, build and stock a creative art center for these rescued children. Art Feeds was the most amazing learning experience of my life.”

Marissa recently worked as the Northwest Arkansas 2-1-1 Program Manager. This role has been a fun challenge to undertake, 2-1-1 is a United Way of Northwest Arkansas program that has needed an overhaul for a few years. She has worked with the UWNWA to transition the program to an updated database system along with designing a new user friendly website that just recently launch! “2-1-1 was such a great program to invest my time and talents into.”