Isabella works across disciplines as a writer, director and production designer. She is based on Gadigal and Wangal land (Sydney, Australia). Her work often explores inner worlds, using visual storytelling and layered metaphors to convey subjectivity. She enjoys using experimental techniques - her work has featured underwater scenes, flowers on fire, extreme slow motion and in one instance, melting curtains. Deeply committed to promoting gender equity, diversity, and inclusivity, Isabella integrates these principles into her creative practice and teaching work.

As a writer-director, her work navigates the complexities of the human experience, blurring the boundaries between the familiar and the strange. Isabella’s short surreal drama UNDER THE WATER (2023), premiered at the 33rd Flickerfest International Short Film Festival in 2024, selected from over 3,400 entries. The film is centered around an eleven-year-old girl grappling with misogynistic taunts and violence from boys in her town. Isabella’s creative process was guided by a desire to provoke reflection and resonance, especially in light of ongoing violence against women in Australia. It was featured at the Montreal Women Film Festival (2024), Cyprus International Film Festival (2024), The Bay International Film Festival (2024), Australia Independent Film Festival (2024), Atlanta Women’s Film Festival (2024), Toronto International Women Film Festival (2024), LA Women in Film Festival (2024) and also reached the semi-finals at the Flickers’ Rhode Island Film Festival (2023). In 2024, Isabella and her colleague, Beck Thompson, were selected to present their horror feature film project, LYREBIRD as part of the Inner West Film Fest Pitching Competition. Previously, Isabella wrote and directed music video, MONSKA for C.R. Robin (2020), which won the WIFT Audience Favourite Award (2021), was nominated for Best Concept in the Clipped Music Video Awards (2020) and was a finalist in the Frankie Magazine Good Stuff Awards (2020). She also wrote and directed music video, ICE AGE for Southern Highlands musician, Cilla Jane (2018).

Isabella’s ten-year career in production design is marked by her ability to create immersive and detailed worlds, using spaces and objects to support storytelling. She has designed more than 80 productions. Her accolades include ten nominations from the Australian Production Design Guild (APDG) and a win for Emerging Design for THE GREEKS in 2014. She approaches design with a love for collaboration and a hands-on methodology, excelling in concept development, drawing and illustration, concept art, costume rendering, drafting, scale model-making, scenic art and painting, graphics, making, sourcing, set dressing, and planning. Her production design for TOO MANY ETHNICS (2023), a short comedy directed by Vonne Patiag, won Best Production Design at the Made in the West Film Festival. She also earned acclaim for ALL SILENT DOGS (2022), a surreal coming-of-age short by Natalia Stawyskyj, which received a nomination for Best Production Design for a Short Film, Music Video, or Web Series Award at the APDG Awards in 2023 (now available on SBS On Demand). Her work on feature film, THE GREENHOUSE (2021), a queer magic realist drama directed by Thomas Wilson-White, is featured on Netflix. Additionally, Isabella designed short day-in-the-life tale, FURLOUGH (2021), directed by Phoebe Tonkin, which premiered at Flickerfest. Isabella has also worked extensively in set design for the stage, with productions presented at Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Riverside Theatres, Monkey Baa, NIDA, CDP, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Q Theatre, The Concourse, Seymour Centre and Sport for Jove, among others. In 2018, she was a finalist for the Dutch National Touring Opera Challenge for her set and costume designs for JEVENJI ONEGIN directed by frequent collaborator Elsie Edgerton-Till.

Isabella holds a Master of Arts: Screen in Directing from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (2022), a Bachelor of Dramatic Art in Design from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (2014) and a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours: Class I) from Sydney College of the Arts (2011).