After a BA in Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge, Cottia returned to her more immediate passion of storytelling, working in script development for Amber Entertainment, Altered Image and Lookout Point TV. Keen to complement this experience with on-set work, she took assisting roles in production and casting for several feature films, as well as coordinating short film festival Future Shorts, and working as Company Manager for Secret Cinema. In 2015, Cottia began her filmmaking MA at LFS, where she wrote and directed three shorts and filmed another four. Cottia graduated as a writer-director in 2018, has since directed two shorts and a commercial, and is now working as Head of Development for Wishful Thinking whilst developing her first feature script.