Estela Quesada Hernández was born on 24 June 1924 in Alajuela, Costa Rica to Augusto Quesada Cabezas and Eneida Hernández Sanabria[1] She attended schools first at Escuela Bernardo Soto and then the Instituto de Alajuela,[2] before attaining her teaching license from Escuela Normal de Heredia.

She was one of the first two teachers who taught at the Escuela Juan Chavez Rojas in the rural areas of what is now Ciudad Quesada[1] which was in such a remote part of San Carlos at the time that she had to travel via river and horseback.

[1] She returned to Alajuela and began studying law at the University of Costa Rica, while simultaneously teaching at the Escuela León Vargas.

[1] 1953 was a landmark year for Quesada, as she finished her law degree and won one of the first three seats ever awarded to a woman in the Costa Rican legislature.

[2] After the completion of her elected term, Quesada moved to San Francisco, California, where she headed the Costa Rican consulate and represented the country at the United Nations for a decade.