Maria das Graças Silva Foster

Maria das Graças Silva Foster () (born 26 August 1953), also known as Graça Foster, is a Brazilian business executive and chemical engineer. She is the CEO of Petrobras-Petróleo Brasil, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, which is located in Rio de Janeiro. She is the first woman in the world to head a major oil-and-gas company. In April 2012, she was listed on the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. She was ranked by Fortune magazine in 2013 as the Most Powerful Woman in Business (outside the U.S.) for the second year in a row.

Personal background
Maria das Graças (née Silva) Foster was born on 26 August 1953, in Caratinga, Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil. By the time she was eight years old, Foster's family moved from Caratinga to a favela, also known as a shanty town community, outside of Rio de Janeiro. The area, known as Complexo do Alemão was extremely poverty stricken and ridden with crime. Overpopulation, drug trafficking, unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, pollution, and diseases, along with high mortality rates remain widespread in the poorer favela communities. The conditions in Complexo do Alemão necessitated consistent occupation and monitoring by Brazilian security forces. In an interview with O Globo, she said, "I lived in the Complexo do Alemão for 12 years, lived with domestic violence in childhood and faced difficulties in life. 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." She never knew if she would be able to continue going to school. In order to pay for her school books, she often collected recyclable trash that had been dumped in the streets. During this time, her neighbors were immigrants from Portugal, who would occasionally call on Foster for assistance. In exchange for extra money, she would often help them with reading and writing letters and acclimating to the Brazilian culture.cite news|last=Romero |first=Simon |url= |title=Women Take the Reins of Power as Brazil’s Ene