Born April 16, 1957 in Curaçao. She received her education at the Akademia di Arte (Art school) in Curaçao where she took drawing courses. Minerva Lauffer continued her education at the Ubbo Emmius Nieuwe Leraren Opleiding in Groningen, the Netherlands where in 1987 she got her teachers degree: Bachelor of Fine Arts. She received her Masters degree two years later after completing her studies at the Kunst Academie Minerva (Academy of Art) in Groningen, the Netherlands. Following her graduation until 1997, she taught at the Akademia di Arte in Curaçao. She currently teaches at the Maria Immaculata Lyceum (High school) and the Akademia Pedagogiko Korsou (training college for primary schoolteachers). Minerva participated in several group exhibitions in the Netherlands, the Dominican Republic, São Paolo- Brazil and in the Netherlands Antilles. She had solo exhibitions in 1993 and 1995 in Curaçao.

Although in the beginning Minerva focussed on the hard life of the woman, she now focuses on the strength and dynamic nature of this same woman. The daily task of carrying gets a symbolic meaning. The woman carries her life, her culture and her community. In some of her paintings the women represent pillars. This resulted in the need to create spatial pillars, women as pillars, standing women.
Minerva's style is powerful and direct. The colors she uses are not only happy (bright and optimistic) colors, but they, as it were, carry her complete creation. Her shapes are robust: a dynamic unity in balance.