Maurisa Potts
Maurisa Potts
Company: Spotted MP (Marketing & Public Relations)
Title: Founder & CEO
Maurisa is the Founder and CEO of Spotted MP (Marketing + Public Relations) a Virginia-certified small, women, and minority-owned boutique marketing consultancy that provides distinctive and innovative strategies for brand growth. Maurisa has over 25 years of professional marketing, communications, and events experience. Bravely leaving corporate America and launching her business in 2008 during a major economic recession, Maurisa is known for her mission-driven work ethic, creativity, and expertise that delivers results for clients. Since the launch of her firm, her impact and influence with local and national clients have grown, and she has established a strong reputation as a valued and trusted resource. Her areas of focus include economic development/tourism, retail/hospitality, real estate, lifestyle, and non-profits, and has been the face behind creative projects for a variety of businesses and brands within those industries. Some of her clients include Tysons Corner Center, one of the nation’s premier retail shopping complexes, Sheila Johnson’s Salamander Resort Properties, prominent in the northern Virginia and DC region, Whitman Walker a DC-based community-centered enterprise committed to advancing social justice and equality through health, national non-profit In A Perfect World who empowers the next generation of global changemakers with skills and opportunities needed to succeed and thrive, founded to honor and build upon the philanthropic work between In a Perfect World founder, Manuela Testolini and Prince Rogers Nelson, to vacation destination Colonial Beach located in the Northern Neck of Virginia.
Maurisa is also a leading force that provides women and minorities opportunities through her mentoring and business work. She regularly provides expert commentary on news topics such as diversity and inclusion, disparity, women in media, marketing and PR strategies, and working-mom tips.
She is an industry award-winning practitioner whose achievements have been well documented and profiled, especially in the D.C./Metro business and social communities. Earlier this year, she was the recipient of two prestigious awards. In April 2023, she was the recipient of Virginia Tech University's prestigious Influential Black Alumni Award, recognized as the 2023 Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winner. In May 2023 she was recognized by the Spectrum Circle, a DC based national Women's Leaders organization as the 2023 Small Business of the Year. The Spectrum Circle celebrates women who are innovators and change makers in their respective fields of Business, Media, Technology, Community, Sports and Social Impact.
Other recognition includes being featured in Forbes earlier this year in a feature on highlighting small business owners and the most recession proof businesses in 2023. Last year, she was featured in District Magazine as one of 2022’s “trailblazing women” in the D.C. region. She has also been featured on NBC’s Today Show, and on the cover of VIP Alexandria Magazine as one of Alexandria's cities “Most Inspiring Women”. One feature that is special to her is when former Washington Business Journal editor, Vandana Sinha reached out to her to write a personal piece in which she titled "The Power of the Underdog", in which she shared her personal story with racism and discrimination in corporate America. https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2022/08/26/maurisa-potts-spotted-mp-underdog.html.
Potts received her B.S. from the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at her beloved alma mater Virginia Tech and was the first woman in her family to graduate from college. She remains an active supporter of her alma mater’s athletics, diversity, and educational pursuits through her philanthropy, engagements, and professional influence. Maurisa was the key public relations and event strategist for Virginia Tech’s historic announcement of the Innovation Campus being constructed in Alexandria, Va., which was a major factor in the Commonwealth of Virginia winning the bid for Amazon’s newest production complex.