Her dance career started at 12 years old when she started dancing hip-hop, and continued through high school where she danced in a Hip-Hop & Stepping dance company. In 1999 Cookie enrolled in a summer dance program where she learned her first partner dances, Salsa & Swing. This was the beginning of her lifelong study of partner dances from the US and around the world. From 2002-2008 she continued
to study Salsa & Swing as well as Tango, Bachata, Cumbia, Chilango, Banda, Quebradita, Duranguense, Lindy Hop, Balboa, S**g, & Charleston. From 2004 to 2006 Cookie did Peace Corps work in Bahia, Brazil, during which time she learned several styles of Brazilian dance including Samba, Forró, and Axé. In 2007 Cookie was asked to perform with Los Rumberos, LA's premier Salsa dance company. She competed in the country's only salsa competition at the time, the world famous Mayan Salsa Competition in downtown Los Angeles. In 2008 Cookie was a finalist on the Univision Latin Dance Championships, (the Spanish language version of "So You Think You Can Dance") and made several television and film appearances as a Salsa dancer. In 2008 Cookie started teaching Salsa, and together with a partner she ran The Salsa Box Studios in LA from 2008-2010. During her time as Co-Director of The Salsa Box Studios, Cookie taught partner dance lessons to celebrities including Pink and Carey Hart, was featured on the Gene Simmons reality show "Family Jewels", and also danced at events featuring celebrities such as Andy Garcia, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar among others. She was hired as official choreographer and dancer at Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' red carpet premier party of "The Pacific" on HBO. In 2010 Cookie gave up her dance studio in LA and moved to NYC to dance with the top Salsa dance company in the world. In 2013 Cookie was hired to teach Salsa on Friday nights at the world famous Copacabana. She quickly moved from dance instructor to promoter. She ran the Friday night Salsa night at the Copacabana for a year, bringing a huge crowd to what started as an empty club. The following year Cookie was hired as the official show choreographer at SOB's. Having lived in Brazil and studied Samba for many years, it was a good fit. She quickly moved from dancing and choreographing, to becoming the official promoter for the Brazilian night at SOB's. During her time promoting at SOB's, the club saw the highest attendance to their Brazilian parties in recent times. Between 2013 and 2017 Cookie was a featured dancer on Good Morning America, Hoda & Kathy Lee, performed on stage with Demi Lovato, and at Radio City Music Hall. Currently she teaches dance lessons to adults and children, online and in-person, and choreographs first dances for wedding couples.
