Elma Silva Weba was born in Queimada, in the Maranhão lowlands. She started playing Capoeira Angola in 1986, in São Luís (MA), at the Laborarte Capoeira Angola School, with Mestre Patinho, heir to the lineage of Mestre Abêrre and Canjiquinha. In 1993 he began teaching Capoeira Angola in São Luís (MA) and since then he has dedicated his life to this craft. Crossing the country, he moved to Porto Alegre (RS), where in 1996 he founded the group "Solta a mandinga", which was renamed the "nZambi" group in 1999. In January 2003, he arrived in the federal capital, where he continued his work by founding the nZambi-DF nucleus.

She is a social educator with many years' experience in grassroots organizations, children's rights and combating violence against women. She was among the first women to found a capoeira Angola organization in Brazil.
In 2004, in recognition of her work and her contribution to capoeira, Mestre Patinho awarded her the title of Mestra de Capoeira Angola.

In these almost 30 years of capoeira, Mestra Elma has given workshops in various states, and today lives in Florianópolis (SC), where she leads a life focused on teaching capoeira angola, always with the mission of preserving traditional African values, strengthening each person's identity and responsibility towards resistance, liberation and peace.