[2][3] On 2 October 2015, she was nominated by president Dilma Rousseff to be the first minister of the recently created Ministry of Women, Racial Equality, and Human Rights, which brought together the secretaries of the Policies for Women, Racial Equality, and Human Rights and parts of the General Secretariat.

[5] Gomes, a native of Belo Horizonte, graduated with a degree in pedagogy from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in 1988.

She later pursued and completed a doctorate in anthropology from the University of São Paulo (USP) in 2002, under the advisory of Kabengele Munanga with the thesis titled Body and Hair as Icons in the Construction of Beauty and Racial Identity in the Ethnic Salons of Belo Horizonte.

In said opinion, she declared that the content of the book depicted racist stereotypes of Black people and Africans in a sweeping manner.

In December 2014, it was officially announced as the future chief minister of the Special Secretariat for Policies to Promote Racial Equality (SEPPIR/PR) for the second term of Dilma Rousseff.