Merissa Green

Merissa Green spent 13 years working at The Ledger covering education, government, public housing and crime stories. Her work has garnered her multiple awards. She is most noted for her coverage of slain Lakeland lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare that led to numerous national television appearances including MSNBC's American Greed, Investigation Discovery, Oxygen Snapped and E! Investigates: Curse of the Lottery. Green is a 2000 Florida A&M University graduate and she has a degree in newspaper journalism. She is also a 2008 graduate of the New York Times Leadership Academy at Harvard University. Green's honors include a community service award from the Polk County chapter of Delta Sigma Theta and recipient of Girls Inc. "She Knows Where She's Going" 2013 George Jenkins Award. She is also a United Way ReadingPal. Merissa Green is now the communication manager for the City of Auburndale.