Since April 2012 Celia has served as Executive Director of the Instituto de Cidadania Empresarial (ICE). Before joining ICE, Celia served as Director of Ashoka Canada from 2009 to 2011, Managing Director of Ashoka Global Fellowship for 1 ½ years and Director of Ashoka in Brazil and Paraguay for five years. Before Ashoka, Célia worked with the Institute for Development of Social Investment, where she was a Program Coordinator for two years, creating community foundations in a number of Brazilian cities.

She founded the fundraising consulting firm Philanthropics in 1994 and served as fundraising coordinator for the School of Business Administration of São Paulo, Fundação Getulio Vargas (EAESP/FGV), until 2000. Célia also served as EAESP/FGV’s liaison to the Fundraising School of Indiana University's Center for Philanthropy from 2000–2003 and taught fundraising from 1995-2007 in the first management nonprofit program in Latin America, also at EAESP/FGV.

Célia has a master degree on Economic from Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo da Fundação Getúlio Vargas (EAESP/FGV) which included exchange programs at ESSEC, Paris, France (1990) and York University, Toronto, Canada (1993). Célia holds na undergraduate degree in Economics from the Faculdade de Economia e Administração da Universidade de São Paulo (FEA/USP).
Célia has served on the Board of Directors of several organizations including Roots of Empathy (Canada), Associação Rodrigo Mendes, the Brazilian Association of Fundraisers (ABCR), the Volunteer Center of São Paulo, IMAFLORA, AISEC, the Committee for Social Engagement of Instituto Akatu and Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) at George Brown College in Toronto. Célia is a co-author of fundraising book Captação de Diferentes Recursos para Organizações Sem Fins Lucrativos, 2000.