Carmela trained as a painter at the Slade School of Fine Art in London and as a conservator of works of art at the Institut Royal du Patrimoine Artistique in Brussels. After many years working as a conservator, she moved to France where she had the good fortune to live on an old country estate. The estate, although very beautiful, had sadly neglected grounds. Trying to restore them without much horticultural knowledge was a challenge; it also convinced her that she wanted to create gardens. Carmela spent 7 exhausting but exciting years fighting invasive pants on 4.5 acres of horse pasture and overgrown woodlot.

In 1997 Carmela enrolled in the New Castle County Master Gardeners training course and continues to be an active member of the organization. Two years later, Carmela designed the Native Plant Teaching Garden that Master Gardeners installed around the old Cooperative Extension building. In 2006 the process was repeated when UD Cooperative Extension moved to its present site on Wyoming Road in Newark. Carmela continues her horticultural education by taking advanced training courses organized by the Cooperative Extension and Certificate of Merit Courses in Ornamental Plants at Longwood Gardens.

Carmela has been with Gateway Garden Center since May 2000. She started as a salesperson and four years later she transferred to the nursery. The nursery produces plants for the garden center from plugs and cuttings, the majority of these are plants are native to the Eastern US.

On a smaller scale, Carmela has a small urban garden which has been certified as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation.