Our Teachers
Marissa Filippis - Founder & Owner
Marissa is our dynamic, passionate, and hands-on founder. Understanding students must be in the right mindset and environment to become the best writers they can be, Marissa developed The Ink Spot to be a fun, supportive, truly transformative learning environment. Since founding TIS in 2011, she is thrilled and honored to have seen it evolve from a small program visiting a few local schools in the Las Vegas Valley into its current action-packed studio space filled with a vibrant writing community of teachers, students, and families.
Marissa’s experiences as an entrepreneur and with teaching writers of all ages, children and teens and adults, has further deepened her understanding of the huge impact creativity and communication can have. This has propelled Marissa forward through The Ink Spot’s growth, making sure every TIS student develops the innovation, creativity, and written/verbal communication skills they need to thrive in whichever field they choose.
Her varied professional and personal background has enabled her to incorporate unexpected but beneficial elements into TIS’s offerings that can’t be found anywhere else. Woven into our curriculum you’ll find script writing, theater, visual art, and improv stemming from Marissa’s expansive fine arts training throughout California and Nevada.
Marissa is hugely dedicated to continuing to offer TIS families the best, most cutting-edge class options. She says, “My greatest passion is designing curriculum that is impactful, wildly fun, and creates lasting memories for our writers and creators.” While the TIS studio is truly her favorite place to be, Marissa also enjoys getting lost in good books and going on outdoor adventures in National Parks (She even got married in Nevada’s Great Basin National Park!). Her other interests include interior design, architecture, and games of all types. “Marissa is the Marie Kondo of Writing. She sparks writing joy in all her students!” -Susanne, TIS Parent
Carrie Bindschadler - Studio Director
Carrie Bindschadler is a teacher, writer, and visual artist who is delighted to bring her unique skill set to The Ink Spot as our talented and dedicated Studio Director.
Carrie earned an MFA in Creative Writing and Pedagogy with an emphasis in fiction from Miami University in Ohio in 2018. The rigorous, hands-on training provided at Miami University prepared her to teach writing at any level. Carrie has taught composition and rhetoric and creative writing at the university level, written and directed creative writing and drama programming for summer camps, and even developed a summer-long, desert-themed writing experience with students ages 5 - 12 in Tucson, Arizona. Carrie strives to provide all students with authentic learning experiences that will inspire them to take positive risks and to expand their curiosity. Working at TIS is Carrie’s dream come true because it is a place that values and honors each and every individual student while providing high-quality reading, writing, and arts curriculum that can’t be found anywhere else.
Prior to joining the team at The Ink Spot, Carrie ran a literacy tutoring center where she coordinated and trained over 60 community volunteers, while simultaneously hosting one-on-one literacy tutoring sessions to over 65 readers. Carrie’s experience and passion for youth literacy and writing initiatives led her to TIS.
In addition to her teaching experience, Carrie is also a published writer. Her writing can be found in literary magazines such as hobart, Puerto del Sol, an Emerging Writers of Arizona anthology, and others. Carrie also won first prize in the Literary Awards Competition sponsored by the Tucson Festival of Books in 2017 for an original short story later featured in the literary magazine Swamp Ape Review. Carrie has attended prestigious writing workshops and residencies such as the University of Arizona’s Masters Writing Workshop and the Tin House Summer Workshop in the summer of 2019.
When she isn’t at the studio, Carrie can be found with her nose in a book, creating art, wandering the desert in dusty hiking boots, watching Netflix, or otherwise working on her novel.
Haley Nartker - Teacher
Haley is a spirited and devoted teacher who officially tied a bow on her own education journey in 2023. Having now graduated from the University of Nevada - Las Vegas (UNLV) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, she is so excited to bring her experience in both language and teaching to The Ink Spot.
The Ink Spot is unique in the way it coalesces many of the best parts of the arts – like connection, creativity, and individuality – while still placing a strong emphasis on rigorous learning. This requires our team to wear many hats, and Haley’s work across various industries and education in many subjects has prepared her to introduce students to all that the world of writing has to offer.
While earning her degree, Haley filled many roles. Within the Clark County School District, she taught ninth-grade English, as well as speech and debate classes. At UNLV, she interned for the Director of Communications of the College of Liberal Arts and gained experience in publishing, media, and – well – communications. Throughout the time she worked in these positions, Haley was an established tutor for both individual students and large group sessions. Over the last four years, Haley has worked with students from ages four to twenty-two in a variety of subjects and is eager to bring all that she has learned to her role at TIS.
Outside of her passion for teaching and writing, Haley spends much of her time crafting in the kitchen. Her infant daughter and wild dogs keep her busy, but she believes one of the main tenets of life is that there’s always time for baking (and eating) cookies.
Stephanie Osburn - Teacher
Meet Stephanie! She’s our newest teacher at TIS who comes to us with a wealth of experience in teaching, bringing her enthusiastic, optimistic, and dedicated approach to The Ink Spot. As a parent of an Ink Spotter and long-time supporter of our studio, she is pleased to now be joining The Ink Spot Writing Studio staff.
Stephanie has over 10 years of teaching experience in the classroom and is currently home-schooling her daughter. She earned a B.A. in Geography & Environmental Studies from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs while taking undergraduate teacher education courses. She then continued her education, receiving her M.S.T. (Master of Science in Teaching) in Childhood Education from the State University of New York at Potsdam. Most recently, Stephanie became a certified Upper Elementary Montessori Teacher.
Originally born in Rhode Island, Stephanie has traveled and lived in many places around the United States. She joined the Army after high school, where she met her husband. After serving one enlistment, she pursued her love for teaching, educating herself, and gathering experience as they moved. Stephanie and her family decided to call Southern Nevada home six years ago.
Outside the studio, Stephanie loves spending quality time with her husband, Kerry, and daughter, Violet. Additionally, she enjoys reading, traveling, yoga, and being outdoors. Her family owns three pets: a dog named Jewel, a cat named Tiffany, and a leopard gecko named Mochi.