An Episcopal priest, Carissa’s vocation was born from her work in the fields of human rights and faith-based community organizing. She began her career with the International Human Rights Internship Program in Washington, D.C., in 1995 and went on to grassroots community organizing with the Industrial Areas Foundation in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Since her ordination in 2007, Carissa has engaged members of faith-based communities in outreach and the pursuit of peace and justice in Houston and Los Angeles. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Anthropology from Wellesley College and her Master’s of Divinity from the Seminary of the Southwest. She currently serves as vicar of Northside Episcopal Church, a bilingual, socioeconomically diverse church plant in the Diocese of Texas.