one of the two most beautiful women of her day in Rio de Janeiro, along with Adalgisa Nery).
The writer Rubem Braga tells of how he followed her for a long time through the streets of downtown São Paulo, just to enjoy her beauty and grace.
[citation needed] The writer Ruy Castro, in his book Ela é Carioca said of her: "Elsie has to be placed beside the greatest masters of a genre in the language, like Rubem Braga, Paulo Mendes Campos and Fernando Sabino".
[citation needed] She was a granddaughter of the writer and grammarian Júlio Ribeiro, patron of the 24th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and the creator of the flag of the State of São Paulo.
Lessa later married journalist and writer Ivan Pedro de Martins.