[1] Born in a family of Portuguese, Spanish, and German descent, Galvão was an "advanced" woman for the moral and social standards of the time.

She completed secondary education at the São Paulo Normal School in 1928, and joined the Movimento Antropofágico, influenced by Oswald de Andrade and Tarsila do Amaral.

Both became militants of the Brazilian Communist Party and together they founded the political newspaper O Homem do Povo (The People's Man), which lasted for eight issues before being closed by São Paulo police.

There, Pagu wrote the column "A Mulher do Povo" (The People's Woman) and drew the comic strip "Malakabeça, Fanika e Kabeluda".

She joined the newspaper A Vanguarda Socialista along with Geraldo Ferraz, art critic Mário Pedrosa, Hilcar Leite and Edmundo Moniz.

She translated and directed Fando et Lis by Fernando Arrabal, an amateur montage in which the young artist Plínio Marcos debuted.

Known as a major cultural influence in Santos, Pagu encouraged young talents such as actor and playwright Plinio Marcos and composer Gilberto Mendes.

In her work, along with theater groups, she revealed and translated great authors hitherto unpublished in Brazil, such as James Joyce, Eugène Ionesco, Fernando Arrabal and Octavio Paz.

One of Pagu’s most famous pieces is the book she wrote “Parque Industrial” which was published in 1933 gives detailing insight of the social and economic issues that Brazil faced during the post World War period.

This story also gives the perspective of a lady who escaped the struggles of poverty by marrying a rich man named Alfredo who was a major supporter of Marxism.