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Marissa Castellanos joined Love146 in February 2023 as Director of Grants, providing support for continued development of prevention and survivor care programming. Prior to arriving at Love146, Marissa worked at Catholic Charities of Louisville where she began in 2008 developing the Bakhita Empowerment Initiative, a statewide program addressing human trafficking through specialized services, prevention, training, and awareness.
Marissa is a member of the Technical Working Group for the National Standards of Care for Anti-Trafficking Service Providers, a project supported by the DOJ Office for Victims of Crime and the ACF Office on Trafficking in Persons. Marissa was an inaugural representative member of the National Advisory Committee on the Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth in the U.S. Alongside many collaborative partners, Marissa has led the planning and implementation of the National Labor Trafficking Conference, since its inception in 2018, and most recently in October 2024. Marissa has been a peer reviewer for the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services and provides training and technical assistance for the ACF Office on Trafficking in Persons. Marissa also provides training and technical assistance to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Through her work as a member of the HHS Region 4 Human Trafficking Advisory Group, Marissa co-authored the Guiding Principles for Agencies Serving Survivors of Human Trafficking.
In September 2024, Marissa was recognized by the Muhammad Ali Center as a Daughter of Greatness, which “honors women who are changemakers in the arenas of social philanthropy, activism, and pursuits of justice”. In 2023, Marissa received the Visionary Voice Award from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, which “recognizes creativity and hard work of individuals around the country who have demonstrated outstanding work to end sexual violence”. Marissa received her Bachelor of Science and Master’s in Social Work from the University of Kentucky.
