A queer, first-generation immigrant born in the Philippines, raised in Alberta, and now based in Montreal, Marbella's work is deeply rooted in exploring and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities, particularly QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Colour). She employs boundary-pushing, interdisciplinary approaches that merge creative arts therapies, performance, and social justice.

Marbella’s academic journey includes a BFA in Visual Arts (with Distinction) from the University of Calgary, a BEd in Social Justice-Focused Arts Education from the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), and an MA in Creative Arts Therapies (Art Therapy) from Concordia University. Her graduate research, Healing in the Margins: Art Therapy and Racial Minority Clients (SSHRC-GSM, SSHRC Storytellers Finalist), introduced a critical framework for evaluating the therapeutic experiences of BIPOC clients utilizing art therapy as a healing modality. In addition to her research, Marbella co-founded the CATSOCAAA, a student-led organization for racialized graduate students, and organized initiatives like the Social Justice for Creative Arts Therapies Speaker Series. She has also earned multiple awards and grants for community-based student activism and excellence.

Since 2020, Marbella has maintained a successful private practice in Montreal as an art therapist. Her practice is grounded in anti-oppressive, pro-QTBIPOC, sex-positive, and decolonial values, with therapeutic interventions centered on equity, feminism, social justice, and intersectionality. In addition to her clinical work, she has facilitated workshops and provided consultation services to organizations such as Anorexie et Boulimie Quebec (ANEB), Queen’s University, and Forum PARR (Relais-femmes). She has also received funding from the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) Concordia to offer community-based art therapy and burlesque workshops for QTBIPOC participants. Before becoming a therapist, she worked at the National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC), where she was head of Outreach & Education. She balanced this work (a combination of public health, knowledge translation, community education, and project management), with community arts work at Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts & Culture. 

As an artist, Marbella’s work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and organizations such as MAI - Montreal Arts Interculturels, Tangente, CanAsian Dance, Festival AccesAsie, and the Burlesque Hall of Fame. Her artistic practice includes her neo-burlesque alter ego, Joy Rider. For over seven years, Marbella has created and performed locally and internationally, using neo-burlesque to challenge societal notions of femininity, reclaim sexual agency, and combat fetishization. Her work, Walang Hiya, supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, combines neo-burlesque with Filipino folk dance, exploring the tension between self-expression and cultural context.

In the fall of 2025, Marbella will begin her doctoral studies at Concordia University in an individualized fine arts program focused on understanding how neo-burlesque can serve as a healing modality for QTBIPOC communities in Canada.