By Trudy Whitman

She graduated from Brown and received an MA from Columbia. She is only 30, but her CV is as lengthy and weighty as that of someone twice her age. And she says that although she loved growing up near Boston, New York always beckoned.

If you’ve conjured up an image of a Wall Street lioness-in-the-making with a six-figure salary who survived the market meltdown, conjure again. Marisa Catalina Casey possesses the intelligence, drive, and, certainly, the energy for such a career, but since she was a young child making bracelets and barrettes to sell for good causes, she knew she wanted to use her creativity and drive to help others.

Adopted from Colombia at the age of three, Casey held firmly to her roots. As a teenager, she made several trips back to Latin America during which she visited orphanages, helping her mother who had founded a non-profit adoption agency. After one such trip, Casey designed a calendar using photographs of adopted children. “The calendar brought in thousands,� she recalls, “and all the money went back to the orphanages.�

During her freshman year at Brown where she was working toward a degree in Latin American studies, Casey expanded the calendar project, approaching Barnes & Noble to suggest they sell them in their stores. The book chain agreed, and once again orphanages were the beneficiaries. While in college, she also won school grants to start a magazine and a photography club. She was on her way, she says, to recognizing that her life mission was to use her artistic and entrepreneurial talents for the benefit of society. To help reach that goal, she entered the Arts Administration graduate program at Columbia University Teachers College.

Jobs in photojournalism and at a number of foundations followed. From each experience, Casey filed away lessons learned and skills acquired for use in the non-profit she knew she would one day found. In 2008 the determined young woman realized her dream. Starting Artists, Inc., which Casey established two years before, found a permanent home at 211 Smith Street.

Starting Artists (SA) provides no-cost afterschool, school vacation, and summer training in the arts and entrepreneurship for underserved teenagers in Brooklyn. The bright and inviting storefront features state-of-the-art iMac computers and an impressive array of software and digital SLR cameras, in addition to traditional arts and crafts supplies. Typically, a mixed group of about 20 boys and girls, aged 12 to 19, visits SA every weekday. Their projects are self-directed, and with the assistance of adult volunteers, students receive a considerable amount of one-on-one attention.

Casey explains how the process works: A new student likes to doodle. He shows the instructor a few of his drawings, and she suggests learning how to scan a drawing so he can work with it on the computer. Depending on the student’s desires and his mastery of various software applications, the original doodle may eventually become a silk-screened T-shirt, an animation, or a logo for a product dreamed up by its creator.

An indefatigable fund raiser, Marisa Casey has made her dream work with the help of grants from Google, the Brooklyn Community Foundation, State Senator Daniel Squadron, and a number of individuals and family foundations. Adobe has made generous product donations, and SA’s landlord, Vincent Mazzone, charges the group below-market rent.

“Starting Artists is also committed to earned income,� Casey notes. The community is invited to take paid classes in graphic design, photography, or digital video. “All you have to do is find two other people interested in a class,� Casey explains, “and we’ll match you up with an instructor.� Starting Artists also holds crafts fairs, tag sales, and hosts children’s birthday parties to help pay the bills.

Marisa Casey calls herself a social entrepreneur. For the students who have made Starting Artists a supportive safe haven and second home, her job entails social work, school counseling, teaching, and advocacy. Cognizant of the difficulty of acceptance at a good city high school, Casey instituted a three-day workshop focused on the application process for LaGuardia High School, NYC’s premier arts school. Each student was helped to tailor portfolios and practice for the interview. The upshot? Every SA student who applied for a spot at LaGuardia for the 2009-2010 school year was accepted.

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