[3][4] Spena was born into a musical family in Buenos Aires.
[5] Her father, composer Lorenzo Spena, emigrated from Naples, Italy, to Buenos Aires in 1901.
[6] Spena studied music with her parents as a child, then attended the Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música Argentina,[5] where she later taught.
Her students included Ruben Ferrero and Waldo de los Rios.
She composed songs based on texts by German Berdiales,[6] Alfredo R. Bufano, Julia Crespo, Andre Gide, Horacio Guillén, Jorge Jantus, Carlos Mingo,and Juan Vignale.