Mischa was born in Sunnyside, Washington, on March 21, 1980.  Her family moved to the Tri Cities when she was 11 years old, so she now considers herself to be a native.  She is the daughter of Roger and Kathy Willis, and the younger sister to James (32) and Mike (24).

Mischa attended St. Joseph’s Middle School, and continued her education at Kamiakin High School.  While attending Kamiakin, Mischa was a varsity swimmer and was named Most Inspirational, Miss Tough, and the captain of the team her senior year.  Mischa also participated in Student Government and was member of multiple committees. 

After graduating in 1998, Mischa moved to Charleston, South Carolina to be a part of the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), an Americorps program.  Mischa was placed on team Blue Six, this unique group of 12 individuals traveled the south eastern portion of the United Stated doing various service projects.  Their adventure led them to work in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama.  Blue Six was given the team name of The Smokin’ Blue’s after completing wild-land forest fire fighting training through the Forest Service.  Mischa and her team spent many hours on the fire line, especially in the state of Florida.  Several other projects that Mischa had included work with Habitat for Humanity and the Special Olympic World Games. 

After completing 2,000 hours of volunteer service with NCCC, Mischa moved back to the Pacific Northwest.  Mischa attended college in Bellingham, Washington for a semester before leaving on another adventure.  Mischa then moved to London, England, and attended the University of London.  She studied theatre, history and culture.  Mischa traveled the UK extensively, taking many trips to Scotland and Wales and was also able to travel the European continent.

Mischa then returned to the Tri Cities and attended Tri City School of Massage, while working at Tri City Prep High School in the PE and Health department.  Mischa went back to college in the fall of 2001, attending Columbia Basin College, where she is currently a student. 

Also in 2001 Mischa worked for another Americorps program: Volunteers In Service to America (VISTA) as one of two full-time staff for Tri-County Partners, Habitat for Humanity as the Volunteer Coordinator and Head of Procurement.  Mischa is still very involved with volunteer service; she sits on the Board of Directors for the Volunteer Center, is a member of Tri County Partners Resource Development Committee and has been appointed to serve on a committee for Habitat for Humanity International, by the founder of Habitat, Millard Fuller.

Mischa plans on getting her undergraduate degree in sociology and then continuing her education at law school.