Marianna was born to be a dancer; but never became a dance professional. Instead with her traditional upbringing in the family of a mathematician and an engineer went on to study biochemistry. All her life she pursued dance as a hobby focusing on several dance genres and even at some point teaching salsa in local clubs in San Francisco.

Marianna carried the idea of Dance Match in her head for 10 years and slowly incubated until she finally decided to launch into action.