Without even realizing it at the time, Carissa's love affair with food was sparked as a child growing up on a small dairy farm in South-Central Washington State. As you can imagine, the eggs, milk and butter were amazingly fresh and the beef, pork and chicken were top-quality. As if that weren't enough, Carissa's mom Helen was an avid gardener and the kitchen was constantly filled with unimaginably fresh produce of all types.

Growing up she was a true athlete and participated in any and all sports that she could get involved with, from swimming and volleyball to basketball and baseball. From the tender age of 10, she proved to be an outstanding distance runner, participating in numerous national track and cross-country championship events. Throughout high school she was the winner of seven individual State Championships in track and cross-country and was awarded a running scholarship to The University of Washington in Seattle. Here she was a member of the UW varsity track and cross-country teams and earned a bachelor of arts in political science. After graduating she worked at a law firm for a brief time then took a job in sales – still dealing with politics on a daily basis!

In 2003, after almost a decade working in a professional high-tech sales job, Carissa decided to pursue her real passion: FOOD. In the span of 5 weeks she literally changed everything in her life; sold everything, packed her bags and moved to Paris, France (without knowing a word of French). Here, in the culinary epicenter of the world is where she attended the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary institute. After graduating with a degree in both French cuisine and French Patisserie (pastry), she honed her culinary skills under the tutelage of some of Paris's premier chefs and patissieres, including Jean-Louis Nomicos at Lasserre, Laurent Duchene and Pierre Herme. Through living and experiencing all parts of France and its food, it infectiously forever became a part of her soul. She knew she needed to be involved and surrounded by food.

In 2005 she returned to San Diego to pursue her dreams and promptly submitted a videotape and application to The Food Network to become “The Next Food Network Star”. She was selected as 1 of 8 finalists out of approximately 10,000 applicants for the talent search/reality show and began filming in November 2005. On March 19, 2006 the show aired on the Food Network and Carissa competed for a chance to win her own television show. Carissa successfully competed on national television for 7 one-hour episodes and survived the intense competition up until the time where the group was whittled to two Currently pursuing culinary opportunities such as personal chef'ing and providing culinary classes and gastronomic meals to both groups and individuals, she believes French cooking can be simpler than some perceive it to be and wants to teach people how to create simply scrumptious French cuisine and bring a touch of France into every kitchen throughout the world. By understanding, mastering and utilizing traditional French culinary techniques, Carissa is able to apply this in the making of any world cuisine. Always on the hunt for new and interesting things, Carissa adores cooking, experimenting and of course…eating all types of food and most importantly, sharing it with friends and family…the ultimate experience!