In 2000, Risa worked as a Freelance Storyboard Artist for ABC Sports creating a series of promotional commercials for World Championship Figure Skating. Risa attended the “FAME” school, Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts in Manhattan’s Lincoln Center, where she graduated in 2001, one year early.

In 2008, Risa completed her B.A. in Psychology with a Minor in Art from the University at Albany, where she worked as a Research Assistant for the Psychology Department.