[2] At age 12, when her father was killed in a tree-felling accident, Melo quit school to care for her five younger siblings so that her mother could work full time in a hotel.

Kubitschek's son Juscelino would become president of Brazil in the mid-1950s and Melo lived and worked in the household even after they moved to São Paulo.

[3] She continued to press for the rights of domestic workers until social organizations were banned by the dictatorship of President Getúlio Vargas.

She sold snacks at the Guarani and Ponte Preta football stadiums to supplement her income[3] and redoubled her work in cultural and trade activism.

She partnered with politicians like Francisco Amaral and with the progressive wing of the Catholic Church to continue pressing for the rights of domestic workers.

Her work led to the development of similar organizations in other states and was pivotal to the recognition of domestic workers earning the right to be classed as laborers and have protected benefits.

[5] A biography about her was written by author Jarid Arraes as part of her 2015 cordel collection and book Heroínas Negras Brasileiras em 15 cordéis.