Marcella began her journalism career as an intern for The Arizona Daily Star's weekly Spanish section, La Estrella, where she wrote feature stories in Spanish focusing on Tucson's local Latino community. She then interned at the St. Paul Pioneer, covering diverse topics including court cases and community events, with stories ranging from a new gorilla exhibit at the Como Zoo to Minnesota’s legalization of same-sex marriage. Marcella was subsequently hired as a breaking news reporter at the Reno Gazette-Journal, where she worked for 10 years. She later Adv. to a role dedicated to covering underrepresented communities in Northern Nevada and contributed to launching the RGJ’s first online bilingual news section.