[3][4] Her father, Máximo Dias, was a Mozambican lawyer, politician and leader of the MONAMO political party.

[3][4] She met her future husband, Jorge Carlos Fonseca, who is Cape Verdean, in 1987 while attending the university.

[3] The couple moved to Cape Verde in 1991, marking the first time she had lived in an African country since leaving Mozambique in 1976.

[3] On April 30, 2001, Fonseca became the first woman to be elected President of the Cape Verdian Lawyers' Association (Ordem dos Advogados de Cabo Verde).

[1][2][5] A dissenting group of lawyers argued that she had not been a member of OAC for at least 10 years, but her election was upheld.