Gomes, a native of
Belo Horizonte, graduated with a degree in pedagogy from the
Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in 1988. She later earned a master's degree in education from UFMG in 1994, under the advisory of Eliane Marta Santos Teixeira Lopes with the dissertation titled "The educational trajectory of Black teachers and its incidence in the construction of racial identity - A case study in a municipal school of Belo Horizonte". 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. She is a Research Productivity Fellow in education at
CNPq. From 2004 to 2006, she was the president of the Brazilian Association of Black Researchers (ABPN). As a counselor, she issued an opinion on the book
Caçadas de Pedrinho by
Monteiro Lobato. In said opinion, she declared that the content of the book depicted racist stereotypes of Black people and Africans in a sweeping manner. The opinion also contained suggestions of guidelines so that the novel would not be used to normalize racist discourse in Brazil. She participated in the judging commission for the 2003-2004 edition of the
Paulo Freire Prize of the Municipality of Belo Horizonte. She coordinated the affirmative action programs at UFMG. In 2013, she was named rector of UNILAB, becoming the first Black woman to lead a public federal university in Brazil.
SEPPIR 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. She assumed the position on 2 January 2015. == Awards ==