Maria Dos Santos was born in the island of São Vicente, Cabo Verde and migrated to the United States in 2002. She is passionate about education as she has been teaching for 30 years. She has taught in the United States as well as in the Cabo Verde Islands. She attained a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, MA and a License in Teaching from the Cabo Verde Islands. Ms. Dos Santos is a teacher aide at the New Bedford Public Schools and  a  Portuguese teacher at the Discovery Language Academy. She is the Programs Coordinator at Our Children, Our Future, Inc., which is an international nonprofit organization with a mission to assist underprivileged children in the Cabo Verde Islands.