She was the first woman in the world to head a major oil-and-gas company. By the time she was two years old, Foster's family moved from Caratinga to a favela , also known as a shanty town community, outside of Rio de Janeiro. Overpopulation, drug trafficking, unsanitary conditions, malnutrition , pollution, and diseases, along with high mortality rates remain widespread in the poorer favela communities. Foster credits her success and motivation to excel to the support she has received from her mother, yet characterizes her childhood as "happy, joyful but very difficult".
I have always worked to help support my mother and my children and pay for my studies. Willpower is everything for me. I was never afraid of work. In order to pay for her school books, she often collected recyclable trash that had been dumped in the streets.
In exchange for extra money, she would often help them with reading and writing letters and acclimating to the Brazilian culture. Despite her national prominence and wealth, Foster continues to live in an apartment in Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana neighborhood, with her husband, British-born, Colin Foster, and her two adult children. Foster's home apartment is boxed in by large seemingly ominous apartment buildings, and surrounded by the hillside favelas.
In spite of her ability to afford luxuries that would reflect her standing in the country's social, political, and professional circles, she chooses to travel by taxi, rather than own a car. She is easily recognized and popular with local drivers, who always greet her with a smile, in an effort to get her business. She has been at the center of corruption accusations at Petrobras. She attended the Fluminense Federal University , graduating in with a Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering.
In , she began postgraduate studies, earning a master's degree in nuclear engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Foster joined Petrobras as an intern in , utilizing her master's degree in chemical engineering. In , Foster was working for a Petrobras unit that was involved importing natural gas from Bolivia. During this time, she met Dilma Rousseff , who in October , would be elected to serve as the first female President of Brazil.
