Cláudia Pinhão, born in Porto, holds a degree in Communication Design (1998) from the Escola Superior de Artes e Design de Matosinhos (ESAD). She completed a postgraduate qualification in Socio-Cultural Animation (2003) at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto. She later obtained professional teaching qualifications in Education and Teaching (2009) from the School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto.

She was a lecturer (1999–2019) in plastic and visual arts education across various educational levels, including preschool, primary, and secondary education. She stood out for her coordination and integration of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary intervention projects in both school and community contexts.

She has held management and pedagogical coordination positions in various public and private educational institutions. She was co-coordinator of O Bairro está IN(clusivo), a project by ESAD / esad—idea under the National Healthy Neighbourhoods Programme, which was ranked first place.

She coordinates ESAD's public relations and continuing education departments. In partnership with Casa do Design, she supervises the educational service of this cultural centre. She is also a member of the Blue Design Alliance project, where she is responsible for organising summer courses.