As a young woman she worked in Lerwick, before her marriage in 1949 to Bressay farmer Laurence Sutherland.
Poems by her appear in several anthologies: Nordern Lights (1964, Zetland County Council Education Committee);[2] John and Laurence Graham's A Shetland Anthology (1998).
;[3] Swedish poet Håkon Anderson's Landskapets lycka: Vandringar och poesi i brittiska landskap (2005).
[6] Published collections are: Aa my Selves (1980, Shetland Times) A Celebration and other poems (1991, the author) Joy o creation (2008, Hansel Cooperative Press) (reviewed here,[7] and the source of a 'Poem of the Week' in the Scotsman[8]).
The Yule 2012 issue of The New Shetlander featured a CD celebrating "the work of one of Shetland’s best poets: a compilation of poems and stories, on archive tracks and new recordings, read by Stella and friends.