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Rocio Herrera was born in Chicago, Il. and has resided in LA County for the past 25 years; she was the chief executive officer for an excavation company and then started her own small business. She gave all that up in 2007 to pursue her calling; nursing after experiencing firsthand poor nursing care. She entered nursing school and received her Registered Nursing license in 2012. In 2015 she was injured by a patient and had to undergo two lifesaving neurosurgeries. Rocio used her recovery time to pursue higher education. She enrolled in the bachelor’s program at Azusa Pacific University and completed the bachelor’s in nursing program in 2017. She since has worked as an educator, worked for universities in student health, and currently works for the Department of Public Health as a Health Facilities Evaluator Nurse. Her role with the Department includes overseeing the management of long-term care facilities, relicensure, certification, and complaint investigations.
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Rocio Herrera
Growing up Rocio played multiple sports. Being the daughter of a single mother who worked multiple jobs to support her and her sister, Rocio’s mother was never able to attend a practice or watch a game. Much less purchase new equipment, Rocio played with borrowed and donated equipment. She was awarded a scholarship for softball but had to give it up due to a family emergency in which she relocated to California. Once in California Rocio could not play travel ball or High School Softball because her mother could not afford it. Her softball dream ended there because of the lack of resources available to her.
Rocio is the mother of three daughters (21, 15, and 2 years old). Her two older daughters both play softball and she has been actively volunteering for the past 15 years for various softball programs. She is currently the Softball Booster President for her local High School and has been on the board for the past 7 years (4 as President). Her role as President encompasses running the program from the financial aspect. She has also been very active in her daughter’s travel ball teams and assisted in the travel arrangements, event scheduling, fundraising, recruitment letter writing, and parent education.
Rocio has experienced the ramifications of disparity and oppression in sports firsthand and is very passionate about utilizing her experience with education, leadership, fundraising, program management, and community resources to help Empower Leadership in Latina Athletes.