Clarisse Zeitel is not a star, per se. She appears every week as a dancer on the popular weekend variety show “Caldeirão do Huck,” along with another dozen or so women. But recently, she became a local celebrity because of her brain and not because of her good looks.

Clarisse is a law student at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, where she will graduate in July, and is also the latest winner of an UNESCO essay contest. She just returned from Paris, where the awards ceremony was held, to honor the top five contestants. Clarisse’s essay, “Como vencer a pobreza e a desigualdade,” (How to overcome poverty and inequality) beat 50,000 other entries from Brazil.

Even though Clarisse’s current job title is “variety show dancer,” her dream is to become a public defender after she finishes law school. She says she is often stereotyped, since people are often surprised to find out that she has both beauty and brains.

To watch the Globo special about Clarisse, click here.