Marisa is a skilled design researcher and inclusive usability testing expert at Code for Canada, with a passion for engaging communities in development of technology. She helped conceive of, and operationalize, GRIT (Gathering Residents to Improve Technology), Canada’s first civic usability testing service. GRIT partners with Canadian teams from the public, private and nonprofit sectors to ensure that the design of public-facing services, programs and policies are informed by the residents who are directly impacted by them.

With a background in urban design and community engagement, Marisa previously co-founded a civic tech start-up that created digital tools to help communities become better engaged in the urban improvement process.