Mariana graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) with a Master of Arts in Arts Administration and Policy. She was born and raised in Mexico City, where she earned a BA in International Relations at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art at the Casa Lamm Centro de Cultura.

Before moving to Chicago, Mariana worked in the Mexican embassy in France and Chile promoting cultural exchange and at the National Museum of Art (MUNAL) in Mexico City. Mariana now teaches collections management at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.