Marilena Finotti was born in 1985 in Brixen / Bressanon / Italy. She attended the Commercial Art School and studied Product and Communication Design at the Free University of Bolzano Bozen, Italy. After spending a semester at the Visual Communication and Graphic Design Department of ECAL / Ecole cantonale d árt de Lausnne she completed her degree project during her final semester, graduating on 23rd February 2010.
She gained work experience as a Research Assistant under the direction of Prof. Antonino Benincasa at the Free University of Bozen / Bolzano and as a Graphic Designer at the Beta Young Creative Lab in Graz, Austria. Marilena speaks German, Italian and English.