Manuela is originally from Medellin, Colombia (City of Eternal Spring), and moved to Colorado in 2012. She received her BA degree in 2017 from the University of Colorado Boulder (Go BUFF!) with a double major in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Spanish Language & Literature. During her undergrad, she worked on two different research projects: Exploring how insect phenology may influence the fitness of the Mountain Blue Bird; and isotope analysis to understand how fragmentation alters food-web structure in a large-scale, long-term fragmentation experiment in southeastern Australia.

She completed her master's in biology from Miami University (OH) in 2021 with an emphasis on inquiry-driven education, environmental stewardship, and global understanding through firsthand experiences abroad. For her Ph.D. work, she is particularly interested in biological curriculum design through equitable and diverse knowledge, as well as the development of early scientists and the experiences that led them into the STEM field