Maurício Pestana was born in Santo André, São Paulo. Journalist, publicist, public manager and cartoonist, being considered the most successful black cartoonist in Brazilian history. He began his academic studies at the Santo André Foundation and later at the Cásper Líbero Foundation, the country's first journalism institution. His professional career began in the 1980s in O Pasquim newspaper as politics and the hour had daily access to the newspapers of the Great ABC, Diário Popular and Gazeta Esportiva
The recognition for his intellectual trajectory as a journalist, writer and cartoonist was linked, mainly with his activism in the struggle for racial equality in Brazil and, for the books published more than 60 works, among them stand out:
A Transação da Transição (1985);Negro no Mercado de Trabalho(1986);Educação Diferenciada(1989);Meu Brasil brasileiro(2002);Racista, Eu!?De jeito nenhum (2001);São Paulo Terra de toda Gente(2004);Revolta dos Malês: a saga dos muçulmanos baianos(2010); (2010);Revolta das Chibatas:a revolta cidadã dos marinheiros (2011);2 de Julho: a Bahia na Independência do Brasil (2013); Negro, uma outra história: Aplicando a Lei 10.639 (2014); A Presença Negra e Indígena na Independência do Brasil (2014); Racismo Cotas e Ações Afirmativas (2014).
Among the countries in which he presented as lecturer on equality, exhibitor and to launch books are: United States, Spain, France, Portugal, Argentina, Venezuela and Senegal. In 2007 he assumed the position of Executive Director of Revista Raça Brasil, (the only magazine of national circulation directed to the black population of Brazil), among the main editorial reforms he made, created the section Pages black, where monthly in the eight years that was the front of the Magazine interviewed dozens of personalities of Brazil and of the exterior with focus on the racial question.
He was a member of the Deliberative Council of the Baobab Fund - Racial Equity Fund, of the Administrative Council of the Afro-Brazilian Museum, in 2014, acquired the position of Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Department of Racial Equality of the City of São Paulo, Mayor Fernando Haddad, and assumed the position of Secretary in 2015. In addition to other accomplishments, he created the quota law in the city of São Paulo, which allocates 20% of all positions and public contest for Afro-descendants and idealized the first São Paulo diverse forum, which for three consecutive years brought together hundreds of companies, mostly multinational companies such as Google, Microsoft, IBM, an initiative that has been replicated all over the country and aimed at placing blacks in strategic positions in large companies with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank Development. Currently the journalist writes fortnightly for Isto é Dinheiro magazine, directed his company to Pestana Arte e Publicações company which develops products such as booklets, cartoons, exhibitions and consulting on how to implement affirmative action in companies, in addition to producing the Raça Magazine and the Raça no TV program.