Clarissa is a Chicago-born native who graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), School of Public Health, with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Social Justice minor in 2019. Throughout her academic career, Clarissa has been engaged with social work, the arts, and youth advocacy. (After college, she learned more about her passions for alternative healing arts through training in yoga, vibrational therapy, and social emotional learning. She also began to blossom in performance art with the flow arts and fire dancing community in Chicago.) In early 2023, Clarissa eagerly joined CircEsteem’s Social Circus Instructor Training and successfully completed the program. From the start, working with CircEsteem has greatly inspired her to embark on a new journey into the circus arts through training in skills such as unicycle, acrobatics, tumbling, and juggling! Clarissa loves to uplift and encourage youth of all ages in the process of learning new things together and building self-esteem.
