Marta Suplicy

Who is Marta Suplicy?

Marta Teresa Smith de Vasconcelos Suplicy is a Brazilian politician and psychologist. She was Mayor of São Paulo from 2001 to 2004 as a member of the Brazilian Workers' Party. She later served as the Brazilian Minister of Tourism between March 14, 2007 and June 4, 2008, when she resigned to run again for mayor of São Paulo.

She attended Michigan State University, and Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo; she did post-graduate work at Stanford University. Suplicy started her career as a TV anchorwoman, providing sex advice on a popular show named TV Mulher, broadcast by Rede Globo. While serving as Congresswoman she proposed a gay civil unions act. After running for governor of São Paulo and losing to Mário Covas of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party in 1998, she was elected mayor of the state capital, São Paulo, in 2000.

Her administration of the city is marked by the changes she made to the city's bus system, creating a ticket that is valid for a period of two hours, called bilhete único. In the public educational system she created large schools and cultural centers, called "CEU", which were built in the poorest districts of the city.