In Rio de Janeiro, she graduated from high school at Bennett College and joined the National Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Brazil (today UFRJ), in the Mathematics Degree.

Between 08/1968 to 07/1969, she attended a master's degree in mathematics at the University of Michigan, USA, while accompanying her husband who was study abroad.

She defended her doctoral dissertation entitled "An estimate for the length of closed geodesics in Riemannian varieties" in 1972, under the direction of Manfredo P. do Carmo.

[6] She is also the author of the books Introdução à geometria diferencial (1988), and Transformações de superfícies e aplicações (1981).

Children Dany (1970), Nitza (1973), Leo (1975) and grandchildren Gabriel (1995), Yuri (1998), Luisa (2000), Clara (2005), Milla (2007), Aylou (2009), and Luca (2014) were born of this marriage.