Maurisa Potts will be honored this Saturday April 15 with the Entrepreneur of the Year Award at at this year’s Virginia Tech Influential Black Alumni Awards ceremony. The awards highlight the achievements of outstanding Black or African American alumni. The ceremony will be held during Virginia Tech’s Black Alumni Reunion at Squires Student Center’s Commonwealth Ballroom.

Potts 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. She has over 25 years of professional marketing, communications, and events experience.

Bravely leaving corporate America and launching her business in 2008 during a recession, Potts is known for her mission-driven work ethic, creativity, and expertise that delivers results.

Since the launch of her firm, her impact and influence with local and national clients has grown, and she has established a strong reputation as a valued and trusted resource. Her areas of focus include economic development, retail/hospitality, real estate, lifestyle, and nonprofits, and she 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, Sheila Johnson’s Salamander Resort Properties, Whitman Walker, and In A Perfect World.

She is an industry award-winning practitioner. She has been featured in District Magazine as one of 2022’s “trailblazing women” in the D.C. region. She has also appeared on NBC’s “Today Show,” in the Washington Business Journal, and on the cover of VIP Alexandria Magazine as one of the city’s “Most Inspiring Women.”

Potts received her bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech’s College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and was the first woman in her family to graduate from college.