Maria Carlota "Lota" Costallat de Macedo Soares (16 March 1910 – 25 September 1967) was a Brazilian landscape designer and architect.
Despite not having a degree in either area, she was invited by governor Carlos Lacerda to design and oversee the construction of Flamengo Park in Rio de Janeiro.
[1] She was born in Paris, France into a prominent political family from Rio de Janeiro.
Their relationship is depicted in the Brazilian film Reaching for the Moon, based on the book Flores Raras e Banalíssimas (in English, Rare and Commonplace Flowers), by Carmen Lucia de Oliveira, as well as in the book The More I Owe You, by American author Michael Sledge.
In 1967, after Soares had been through a period of extensive hospitalization for a nervous breakdown, she joined Bishop in New York City.