Marisa 
Diamond

Since discovering her love for teaching as a "gymnastics coach" with her neighbors at 7 years old, Marisa pursued professional training and has amassed international experience as a teaching artist, coach, trainer, mentor, and program coordinator with all ages and abilities, from beginners to professional performers.

 

She has mentored, trained, and supervised coaches and teaching artists around the world, most recently as Senior Lead Coach and Coach-Mentor at Project AIR in Aoteroa NZ. She previously held leadership roles at the renowned social circus school, Circus Harmony, and served as a Program Coordinator at CircEsteem in Chicago. As an AYCO/ACE national board member, Marisa led the initiative to cultivate youth voice and leadership at the highest level of the organization, recruiting and mentoring the first youth Board member.   

 

Marisa has worked with numerous schools, theater programs, and summer camps in the U.S. as a director and movement, fight, stunt, and dance choreographer. She has been a guest teaching artist at national and regional AYCO/ACE festivals, as well as dance, circus and theater programs from Alaska to New Zealand. Marisa works as a virtual teaching artist with Canada's Connected North, partnering with schools in remote Indigenous communities. She also continues to work as a teaching artist in public housing and community settings with Diamond Family Circus, which she cofounded nearly two decades ago.

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Additionally, she served as a literacy tutor in the Detroit Public Schools system, worked as a teacher in daycares and preschools, and volunteered as a trauma-informed violence prevention educator. 

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