 Stella started in Chicago, Illinois doing back up vocals for a number of local bands including Chemlab's album "East Side Militia" singing on "Electric Molecular" and 16 Volt on "LetDownCrush", singing on "Swarm".In 1996 Stella self-released "Drown Me in You" via her own label "Katharsis Records".Additional collaborations included Die Warzau as part of a side project with Van Christie which led to a collaborative effort on the album Soularium.