Mariana Fonseca De’ Carli Orti was born in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, in 1988. She emigrated with her family to Miami in the United States in primary school and maintained residence between both countries until graduating from Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in 2006. Her first professional writing experience was as an international columnist for daily newspaper ‘Correio Amazonense’ at the age of 16. At the time, she was elected as district representative for South Dade County at the Florida Scholastic Press Association.

After completing a summer course at St Peters College, Oxford University, Mariana became enamored with all things London and relocated in the fall of 2006, from where she completed a foundational year at Richmond American University London. She read Portuguese & Brazilian Studies at King's College London SPLAS department, for which she was awarded a BA (Hons) in 2011. This was followed by postgraduate studies in Law at ILEX and a Master degree in Marketing & Communication at Rome Business School in Italy. She is currently undertaking an additional Master degree in Applied Neuroscience at King's College London.

Her work experience included legal representation with Nabas International Law Firm in London, co-Founding her own fashion brand London Republic, and Head of Content for UK multinational Clarion Events Ltd. She currently serves as Trade & Commercial Advisor for New Zealand Trade & Enterprise in Saudi Arabia, where she resides with her family.

Mariana translated and curated English content for the 2022 publication 'Parintins Festival Folclórico’ by longtime collaborator Célio Said. She is a contributing columnist with several publications globally, focused on topics around cultural trends and behaviours.