[3] After contributing to the New York Shakespeare Festival as a teen, von Scherler Mayer graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in theater and history.

[4] Her experience with theater served as a foundation for her career as a director, where she applied her understanding of stage acting to her work for the screen.

Upon graduating from Wesleyan, von Scherler Mayer directed contemporary interpretations of classic plays such as Euripides' Electra, and William Shakespeare's The Tempest and Two Gentlemen of Verona.

She directed Madeline, a 1998 film based on Ludwig Bemelmans' famous children's books about the adventures of a young redhaired French girl.

Von Scherler Mayer is married to film composer David Carbonara, with whom she has two daughters.