Senior Associate; Boston, MA

Marissa is a Senior Associate at Afton, where she has primarily supported policy and practice initiatives in early care and education since 2023. She is deeply passionate about early care and education, having previously worked as an early childhood teacher and parent-child educator. She uses her first-hand experience in the classroom to advocate for systemic changes in the early childhood system, and centers families and educator voice in her work.

At Afton, Marissa has: 

• Lead research, stakeholder engagement, and policy development for cost and payment reform in a state Early Intervention system.
• Collaborated on strategic planning for increasing local child care access through developing a system analysis and action plan.
• Supported the development of a first-of-its-kind early care and education workforce compensation improvement program through research and facilitation of stakeholder engagement.

Prior to joining Afton, Marissa worked as a program coordinator at the Center on the Developing Child. She also holds a Montessori Infant and Toddler teaching credential and was a toddler teacher for three years. She completed a bachelor’s degree in international studies from American University and a master’s degree in education policy and analysis from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.