Mariella spoke at the ELA annual meeting in November 2010. She a storyteller who believes stories can transform and inspire because they connect the present to the past. Mariella explained she often uses stories from her own life experience that includes her newcomer experience from her arrival in Canada as a teenager. While she is an instrumental figure with the Toronto International Storytelling Festival and for Storytellers of Canada – Conteurs du Canada, she is an active participant in the international storytelling community beyond Canada. Mariella shares her ideas and activities on Facebook.

Mariella's talk was originally uploaded to Youtube in three parts due to the upload restrictions imposed by the video streamer in 2010. Her entire talk is about thirty-five minutes in length.