Some of her specific bodies of work include leading national initiatives like the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's Comprehensive Organizational Health Initiative (COHI) with the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD). She has worked for Health Net, Inc., United States Veteran’s Initiative, Inc., and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. As an educator, Trella provides instruction in organizational management and arts administration at California State University – Los Angeles and the University of Southern California.

In 2019, The Chronicle of Philanthropy identified Trella and her colleagues, Claire Knowlton and Fred Ali (then-CEO, Weingart Foundation), as "Innovators in the Field" for their work on the Full Cost Project. The project advocated for full-cost support for organizations - particularly those led by people of color denied access to large, flexible funding. In 2020, Trella was selected as a Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) Change Leader in Philanthropy Fellow. In 2021, Trella became a BMe Vanguard Fellow.

Most recently, Trella served as Interim CEO of the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF). She transformed the team's strategic efforts toward more community-centered organizations and shed light on  NFF's unique role in the fight against economic inequity. Throughout her tenure at NFF, Trella helped lead the organization's strategic transformation to focus its efforts on advancing racial equity in nonprofit funding flows through consulting, lending, and advocacy work. Formerly NFF's Chief Strategy Officer, Trella was also the inaugural leader of NFF's Social Innovation and Equity Council, a group of enterprise-wide staff members dedicated to supporting the organization and holding it accountable to its internal and external equity commitments.

With the same vision and heart, she has successfully run her consulting and coaching firm, Path Forward Consulting (formerly Trella Walker Consulting), for the last twenty years. She has recently added a coaching practice, WomanKind Factor. As a coach and consultant, she concentrates efforts on equity and finance while empowering leaders and organizations across the country who need support in building organizational strategy and management. 

Trella earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Secondary Education at James Madison University before continuing her studies at the University of West Los Angeles School of Law, where she earned her Juris Doctorate. She serves as a board member for several organizations including African American Board Leadership Institute, Community Partners, Anthony Burrell Center for Dance, and serves as an officer for the Los Angeles Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.