Studied Stage Design at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School. Her academic journey would go on, in the same school, with a BA in Theatre and Education and an MA Theatre and Community.

In 1994, she developed an interest in teaching about the subjects she was working on, and has kept a constant pedagogic activity since, coordinating theatre and scenic conception workshops as well as teaching at secondary school and university.

Her professional activity has spanned multiple areas of the performing arts, such as set and lighting design, but she works most frequently as a costume designer.

Maria Luiz worked as an assistant to José Manuel Castanheira, Maria Gonzaga, and Pedro Cabrita Reis. She has worked with theatre companies such as Teatro Meridional, GICC/Teatro das Beiras and Teatro dos Aloés.

On occasion, she has worked with Miguel Seabra, Carlos Cabral, Luís Assis, Gastão Cruz, Rui Sena, Pedro Sena Nunes, João Vieira, Luís Bragança Gil, São José Lapa, Pedro Tavares, João Santos Lopes, Natália Luiza, Paula Pedregal, Pedro Oliveira, João Silva, Nicolau dos Mares and Dinarte Branco, among others.

She is one of the founding associates of the Portuguese Association for Scenography