Gelli graduated from the University of the Philippines Los Baños with a bachelor’s degree in Biology. Her interest in marine biology started with her fascination in sea turtles and nudibranchs which further expanded when she took a class under Dr. Vincent Hilomen who specializes in reef fish ecology, fisheries, and marine protected areas. Her interest in fisheries biology began when she started working and broadened while working alongside experts. She is now responsible for pumping information on life history and population dynamics of both fish and non-fish in FishBase and SeaLifeBase, respectively. She also works on updating catch reconstructions, performing CMSY analyses and assessing fisheries stocks for seafood advisory. She is currently taking her master’s degree at the Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines Diliman, with interest to pursue ecological modeling.