She served as the First Lady of Cape Verde from 1991 until 2001 during the tenure of her husband, President António Mascarenhas Monteiro.
[1] She returned to Cape Verde after college, where she worked at the present-day Agostinho Neto Hospital in Praia as an employee of the Ministry of Health.
However, despite her new position, Mascarenhas kept her job at the clinical analysis laboratory at Agostinho Neto Hospital through her time in the presidential palace.
[1] In addition to her job at the hospital, she was often spotted around Praia, including the markets and beaches Mascarenhas founded the Cape Verdean Children’s Foundation, which provided social services to poor children.
Without the center, women often had few places to bring their small children when they found employment.