Thais Olmos Steler is a PhD student in Art History at Rice University, specializing in the collecting practices and institutional foundations of modernist museums in Latin America. She holds a BA in Digital Communication and Media Studies from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (2009), an MA in Contemporary Art History and Visual Culture from Museo Reina Sofía and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (2018), and an MA in History in the Public Sphere from the Erasmus Mundus consortium of Central European University, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and the University of Florence (2023).

At the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), she served as Public Programs Coordinator, where she developed a new curriculum for the Art History School and co-organized the international seminar Playgrounds Museums, which explored the civic role of museums in engaging diverse audiences. She also has more than a decade of experience as a mediator in major exhibitions, including the 28th São Paulo Biennial.

Her professional experience further includes internships at Tate Modern and Museo Reina Sofía. Her research has been supported by fellowships such as a residency at the Bard Graduate Center in New York (2023) and participation in the London Critical Theory Summer School at Birkbeck, University of London (2023). She is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, and English.