[1][2] Trelles earned an MFA from Florida International University in the 1990s, where she was mentored by the poet Campbell McGrath and fiction writer John Dufresne.

[3][4] Trelles is a professor of composition and creative writing at Santa Barbara City College.

A contributor to the Best American Poetry blog, Trelles's poetry and prose have been anthologized in Ocho, Gulf Stream, Verse Daily, MiPOesias Magazine, The Rumpus and Tigertail: A South Florida Annual.

[7] Trelles has been the recipient of fellowships from the CantoMundo and the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.

Her book Tropicalia,[8] was selected by Silvia Curbelo for the 2010 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize.