Background
Raised in by Puerto Rican immigrants in Spanish Harlem, Garcia grew up seeing hip hop performed in her own neighborhood.
Raised in by Puerto Rican immigrants in Spanish Harlem, Garcia grew up seeing hip hop performed in her own neighborhood.
As a girl, she would stop and watch the neighborhood boys breakdance in amazement, but was unable to participate because she was too young and under the impression that it was something girls could not do. In 1991, veteran breakdancer Kwikstep took Garcia on as a mentee. She would go on to dance with many crews in New York City, eventually earning the nickname "Rokafella".
With her now-husband, Kwikstep, Rokafella founded and performs with the non-profit hip-hop dance company Full Circle Productions to empower young dancers through the positive power of hip-hop.
She admits that the cultural norms of her ethnic background contributed to this mindset, stating “being of Latino background there was a difference between what the males could get away with and what the females had to do".