Her career began in 2006 as the chief architect at Cosbat Empreendimetos, which specialized in the construction of upscale buildings.

Subsequently, she served as the architectural coordinator for the company, being responsible for cost-efficiency, quality, construction safety, and customer relations.

In 2010 she joined Sotero Architecture and Urbanism, where she became the coordinator for the projects division, in which she was responsible for all the legal and technical feasibility of large-scale commercial and residential real-estate projects.

Manoela has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), is currently completing an Executive MBA at Fundação Instituto de Administração (FIA/USP), and also has a degree in Strategic Leadership at IIT - Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago-USA.