A 25-year- resident of Polk County, Merissa Green is the Communication & Marketing Manager for the City of Haines City. She began her career in Polk as a newspaper reporter for The Ledger. The 2000 graduate of Florida A&M University, has been recognized nationally and internationally for her murder investigations including on Lakeland Lottery Winner Abraham Shakespeare. Merissa has been featured on every major true crime show including E! Investigates, CNBC’s American Greed, Oxygen Snapped, BET’s Murder in the Thirst, and TV One’s “Sins of a City” in May. Merissa is currently featured on the true crime series, "Web of Death" on HULU and "Floribama Murders" on the Oxygen Network. She is scheduled to appear on Crime Expose with Nancy O’Dell on Fox stations.                                                                                                                              

In 2008 Merissa participated in the New York Times Leadership Academy at Harvard University. Merissa transitioned to public relations in 2013 as the communication manager for the city of Auburndale. She was the city’s first communication manager overseeing press communications, crisis communications, social media, and special events.  She was instrumental in creating the city’s Comic Book Convention which brought celebrities from television and film. Merissa spent five years with Polk County Public Schools as the senior coordinator of special events and international teachers. She is a community advocate who previously served on the United Way of Central Florida Board and assisted in the past with the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk. Merissa in the 2013 recipient of the Winter Haven Girls’ Inc. She Knows Where She Is Going Award and is the 2017 recipient of the Polk Emerging Leaders Award. She is an alumna of Leadership Polk and a member of the Florida Public Relations Association, Dick Pope chapter.