Mena began to weave with linen in 1986, when she attended a training course for a whole year. She was already a mother of two.
By the end of the course, she and 15 other trainees decided to create a cooperative “not knowing exactly what it was”, and so “Cooperativa dos Artesãos Cervenses” was born.
She stayed at the Cooperativa until 2000, when she decided to leave and start her own working place. She bought a weaving loom “with over 100 years old, that was very appreciated at the fairs and exhibitions I went to”. After that, she bought another one, and kept weaving.
Using linen, she performs everything that can be used at home and she sells her products at her workplace, in Alvite.