Podestá was born in Montevideo in 1929. He graduated from the drawing and sculpture program at the National School of Fine Arts of the University of the Republic. He won a municipal scholarship awarded to the University of the Republic, the "Carlos Ma. Herrera" to study sculpture at L’École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts with G. Adam and at the Académie du Feu with L . Szabo in France, a French government scholarship to study sculpture in Paris, and an Italian government scholarship through the Italian Cultural Institute to take design courses at the Istituto Statale d’Arte in Florence.
He received the Montevideo Municipal Salon Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986, the “Morosoli” trophy from the Lolita Rubial Foundation in 1996, the Pedro Figari Sculpture Award, granted by the Central Bank of Uruguay in 1998, and the B’nai B’rith Fraternity Award in 1999. In 2003, he was declared an illustrious citizen of the city of Montevideo by the Municipal Government of Montevideo.