Our Story
We Built What We Wished Had Existed
The NIXX Project was born from firsthand experience inside organizations that talked about values but didn’t live them. We knew there was a better way — so we built it.
How We Got Here
Built From the Inside Out
Marissa and Sterling didn’t start The NIXX Project because they read about a gap in the market. They started it because they lived inside it. Years of working within behavioral health organizations, treatment centers, and mission-driven nonprofits gave them a clear view of what keeps good organizations from becoming great ones.
They saw leaders promoted without development, staff burned out without support, and compliance treated as a checkbox rather than a culture. They saw organizations with genuine purpose struggling to operationalize it — not because the people didn’t care, but because no one had ever shown them how.
So they built what they wished had existed. A company grounded in transparency, built for the organizations doing the hardest work, and focused on what actually moves the needle: developing the people, strengthening the systems, and aligning the culture with the mission.
The NIXX Difference
We don’t work from a distance. Every engagement is grounded in direct experience inside the industries we serve.
We tell the truth. About what’s working, what isn’t, and what has to change.
We stay until the work is done — not until the contract ends.
What Drives Us
Three Things We Know to Be True
These aren’t values we wrote for a website. They’re the beliefs that shape every engagement, every conversation, and every recommendation we make.
01
People Thrive When They’re Developed, Not Just Managed
Most leadership problems aren’t people problems — they’re development gaps. When organizations invest in growing their people, performance follows. We build leaders who stay, grow, and carry the mission forward.
02
Transparency Is the Foundation, Not a Feature
We don’t soften hard truths to protect comfort. Honest, direct feedback — about leadership, culture, compliance, and operations — is what organizations need to actually improve. We tell the truth, and we help teams act on it.
03
Compliance, Culture, and Wellbeing Are One System
Organizations that treat these as separate priorities end up struggling with all three. When your culture is healthy, compliance follows. When your people are supported, quality improves. We work at the intersection — because that’s where real change happens.
The People Behind the Work
Meet Our Founders
The NIXX Project is built on lived experience. Marissa and Sterling have each spent years inside the industries they now serve — and that firsthand perspective shapes everything about how they work.
Marissa Lemus
Co-Founder | M.S., Neuropsychology | Clinical & Behavioral Health
Marissa brings over 10 years of clinical and behavioral health experience to The NIXX Project. Her background spans direct service, program leadership, and organizational development within treatment centers, domestic violence shelters, mental health organizations, and community health programs.
Her M.S. in Neuropsychology and PsyD in progress informs a deeply human approach to leadership development — one that accounts for how stress, trauma, and environment shape the way people lead, communicate, and grow. She specializes in helping leaders understand themselves first, so they can show up more effectively for their teams.
Marissa has seen what happens when organizations treat their people well — and what happens when they don’t. That experience is the foundation for everything The NIXX Project does.
Sterling Como
Co-Founder | Operations & Compliance
Sterling’s background is in the operational and compliance infrastructure that keeps healthcare and mission-driven organizations running — and keeps them accountable. He has worked across regulatory compliance, licensing, financial operations, and organizational systems in behavioral health and nonprofit settings.
Where many consultants focus on culture or strategy in isolation, Sterling’s work is grounded in the practical systems that either support or undermine those goals. He helps organizations build the operational foundation that makes sustainable growth actually possible.
His approach is direct, structured, and focused on results that last beyond the engagement. Sterling believes that accountability isn’t punitive — it’s the clearest form of respect you can show a team.
How We Work
An Approach Built on Honesty and Results
We don’t arrive with a pre-packaged program and leave when the hours are up. Every engagement is shaped by what the organization actually needs — and we stay accountable to outcomes, not just deliverables.
We Start With the Truth
Before recommending anything, we listen. We observe. We ask hard questions and sit with the answers. Our assessments are honest, direct, and grounded in what we actually see — not what’s comfortable to say.
We Work Alongside You
This isn’t consulting from a distance. We embed in your work, understand your context, and build solutions that your team can actually implement and own. Change that sticks requires buy-in — and buy-in requires trust.
We Develop People, Not Dependency
Our goal in every engagement is to make ourselves unnecessary. We build internal capacity, develop leaders from within, and create systems your team can sustain long after we’re gone.
We Hold Ourselves Accountable Too
We don’t just hold organizations to their standards. We hold ourselves to ours. If something isn’t working, we say so. If an approach needs to change, we change it. Accountability is a two-way commitment.
Where We Work
We work with organizations across the United States. Engagements are available in-person, virtual, or hybrid — structured around what the work actually requires.
Our Clients
We Partner With Organizations Doing the Hard Work
Our clients share a common thread: they care deeply about the people they serve, and they’re serious about building organizations that match that commitment.
Healthcare & Behavioral Health
Treatment centers, mental health programs, and community health organizations navigating growth, compliance, and culture challenges.
- Addiction treatment centers
- Mental health organizations
- Dual diagnosis programs
- Community health clinics
Nonprofits & Mission-Driven Organizations
Organizations whose mission is their purpose — and who need the operational and leadership infrastructure to actually deliver on it.
- Human services nonprofits
- Community programs
- Youth and family organizations
- Re-entry service providers
Growing Companies & Leadership Teams
Organizations at an inflection point — scaling, restructuring, or building the leadership bench they need to sustain what they’ve built.
- Companies undergoing rapid growth
- Organizations in leadership transition
- Teams building management capacity
- Any organization serious about culture