Prior to her election to the European Parliament, Rodrigues served as the president of the Laboratório de Ideias da Madeira from 2011 until 2015. In her professional life she is a professor at the
University of Madeira and an educational investigator. She graduated from the
Universidade Nova de Lisboa in 1996 with a degree in philosophy, and received two degrees in education from the University of Madeira, a master's degree in 2003 and a doctorate in 2008. She has taught philosophy, psychology, and sociology at the secondary level as well. She has also traveled to
Brazil to teach. In her spare time Rodrigues enjoys training dogs, a hobby which she says is difficult to pursue in Brussels. She has said that she intends to retain her connections to Madeira while in Parliament. ==Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2019==