She was born in Montijo and graduated in Anthropology at the Higher Institute of Business and Labor Sciences and did postgraduate studies in Gender, Power and Violence at the Higher Institute of Applied Psychology.
From 1998 to 2005 she was Coordinator of the Office of Health and Social Action of the Municipality of Montijo. From 2005 to 2009 she was Deputy Secretary of State for Social Security. From February to October 2009 she was President of the Commission for Equality at Work and Employment. From 2011 to 2013 she coordinated the Lisboa Empreende Project at the Lisbon municipality. From 2015 to 2017 she was Secretary of State for Citizenship and Equality during the XXI Government of Portugal.
From 2009 to 2020 she was Member of the Portuguese Parliament, and she was a member of the parliamentary Committees of Labor, Social Security and Public Administration, Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, and Health. She is a member of the Parliamentary Group for Population.
Since September 2020 she is Vice President of the Institute of Social Security.
Throughout her professional career she worked with several volunteer projects: street teams at the Life and Peace Community; Porta Amiga Centers at the International Medical Assistance; Teams of hospital visits of the Portuguese League Against AIDS; Direction of the Social Center of S. Pedro do Afonsoeiro; Mission Teams in Guinea Bissau, with the Afetos com Letras.
