My name is Marissa Tinsley and I am a freshman at Tri-County Technical College, and I am majoring in Computer Technology. I graduated from Pickens High School in June of this past year. I was born in Greenville, S.C. on December 23, 1989. I have lived in the Greenville area my entire life. I have done some traveling, although it has only been to states close by.  I still live at home with both of my parents and my younger sister.   Although my younger sister and I are the only two left at home, we have 4 other siblings.  My parents have six children altogether.  My dad had three, my mom had two, and together they had one. So, I have four sisters and one brother. A large family makes for some very interesting holidays. 

     I have been riding horses since the age of five.  I also got my younger sister involved in riding horses as well.  I guess you could say that the country lifestyle is home to me. I own two horses; their names are Little Joe and Ginger. I have actually only had the two of them for about three weeks now. My family has three other horses and a mule.  If you were to come to my house it would be obvious that I live with a bunch of animal lovers.  We have horses, a mule, dogs and cats running around everywhere.  I have recently added two puppies and a fish to our animal collection with my boyfriend Riley.  Riley and I have been dating for almost a year and a half. Together we have, like I mentioned, two dogs (Samantha and Dallas) and a beta fish (Makahiki). 

     Riley is also a student here at Tri-County Technical College.  He is studying to become a police officer.  I, myself, am planning on getting an associate’s degree in computer technology here at Tri-County Technical College. I am very goal oriented and know exactly what I want out of life, as well as exactly how I am going to get it.  I am the type of person that likes to stand out in the crowd, but does not always like to be in the spot light.  I have done some pageants and competed in the Teen Miss South Carolina Pageant.  I never won, although I did make it to the finals.  I am currently working to start my own business.  I want to help younger girls that have low self-esteems, and boost their confidence.  Many younger girls enter pageants to feel beautiful and to have a good time, but when in reality many girls have their self esteem ruined from snobby girls.  I want to work with these younger girls; to teach them to have confidence on and off stage, and to feel like they are the queens they truely are.  I am also trying to sell formal dresses for a reasonable price, so that just about anyone with the dream of becoming a beauty queen is not limited from their parent's budgets. 

     I am very money oriented, and I understand that this world thrives on money.  I know that I have the potential to be successful in this world, and I am going to stop at nothing to get to where I want to be.  I am very goal oriented, and I can see a perfect path of where my future is going to take me.  I am really trying to work on making myself as strong as I can be mentally.  I feel like nothing will be able to tear me away from my goals if I keep a constant reminder of what I want in life playing over and over again in my head. 

     Although I am very set with my future, I am having a great time living in the present day.  I love listening to all types of music, except for the screaming junk.  I do not have too much free time to watch tv, but I do enjoy it. 

This is our dog Sam (2) , me with two of my nieces (3) , and me with my dad (4).
This is me and Riley (5), my younger sister and my dad(6), and my mom (7).