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Karissa Barber grew up transitioning states every few years and always found a home on the stage. High school graduation was followed by a move to Europe, performing at a German dinner theatre. After living and acting abroad for three years, she returned to the states to get her degree in international studies and theatre from Southeastern University. Central Florida is now home to Karissa, her husband and their four children. 

Karissa began performing professionally after college, the highlight being performing under the direction of Maestro Anton Coppola in La Boheme with Opera Tampa at the Straz Center in the Carol Marsoni Hall to over 2,000 in attendance each performance.  Other notable roles are Maria in Sound of Music, Fantine in Les Misérables, Kate Keller in The Miracle Worker, and Winifred Banks in the Florida premiere of Mary Poppins.

Using her performance skills, Karissa has emceed  WOW Summit in Chicago, Los Angeles and Orlando. Award-winning actress in Orlando for her role in Garden Theatre's production of Miracle on 34th Street and in Tampa for her role in The Tampa Repertory Theatre's production of Silent Sky, Karissa is also a playwright and producer. Her first show, Masterwork had a successful Central Florida run in three cities. She also helped to start the professional theatre company, Rogue Stage.

Karissa was featured in the independent film, The Lost Digit, which premiered at the 2017 Gaspirilla Film Festival. She enjoys an ongoing relationship with several Lakeland, Florida production companies and made a guest appearance in the Lakeland produced film, At the End of the Day which premiered June 2018 at the iconic Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. BMG also represented her for her film, TV and commercial work from 2014-2017.

Passing on her experience and love of the theatre, Karissa is an adjunct professor and director at Polk State as well as the full-time theatre operations & production manager, director & intimacy choreographer at Florida Southern College. She also had a private acting studio, taught acting techniques online for kids in the film industry and facilitated theatre for adults with disabilities in New Mexico.

Karissa's directing style is focused on creating a collaborative, trauma-informed, consent-based environment, valuing the process over the product to create a sustainable theatre practice for all artists involved. Her certifications & training include mental health first aid, suicide prevention, bystander intervention, allyship/anti-racist workplaces, intimacy coordination and culturally responsive pedagogy. And she is proud member of Florida Intimacy Professionals as an intimacy choreographer for live performance.

She graduated in May 2024 with her MFA in directing and performance pedagogy from the University of Idaho. She also earned an academic certificate for Culturally Responsive Pedagogy & Universal Design in Learning and is seeking a full-time theatre professor position.

Karissa's non-theatre work includes running her own photography business, bookkeeping for a CPA, teaching speech/debate in a Montessori school and almost 5 years as a communications director for a cross-cultural nonprofit focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. She also proudly stayed home for 8 years to be the primary caregiver for her children when they were little and homeschooled them on and off throughout those years.