Celebrity Judge - Councilwoman Dr. Adriana Rocha Garcia
Councilwoman Dr. Adriana Rocha Garcia currently serves as the District 4 representative to City Council. During her first term, she formed part of the first women-majority elected City Council. She currently serves as the Chair of the Planning and Community Development Committee and the President of the San Antonio Housing Trust. Since 2022, she has served on the Bexar Country Appraisal District Board of Directors. Dr. Garcia also serves as the council liaison to the Port San Antonio Board of Directors and the San Antonio Ready to Work Advisory Board.
Prior to being elected to City Council, Dr. Garcia served as the Chair of the City of San Antonio’s Ethics Review Board for nearly three years. She previously served as honorary commander of the US Space JBSA Air Base Wing Honorary Commander.
Dr. Garcia is a lifelong resident of San Antonio and continues to call Southwest San Antonio home. She is passionate about organizations that help the most underrepresented populations in San Antonio. Growing up in a Spanish-speaking household to parents with a first- and second-grade Mexican education, she became the first in her family to earn a college degree.
After graduating from Southwest High School, Dr. Garcia stayed in San Antonio to care for her parents. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Incarnate Word, she was offered a job in the university’s Office of Public Relations and completed her Master of Arts degree from the same university one year later. In 2004, she was in a cohort of 12 students accepted into the University of Texas at Austin's Doctoral Advertising program. After ten years and many miles later, she became one of the first Hispanics to earn a Ph.D. in Advertising from UT’s prestigious Moody College of Communication.
Dr. Garcia is molding tomorrow’s leaders as an Associate Marketing Professor at Our Lady of the Lake University, where she is tenured and teaches in the School of Business and Leadership. She is past recipient of the1895 Commencement Award for Faculty Excellence.
In 2020, she received the Women of Excellence Award from the National Foundation of Women Legislators and in 2022, Dr. Garcia was inducted to the San Antonio Women's Hall of Fame. She has served as a Texas Lyceum Director since 2022. In 2023, Dr. Garcia formed part of the Workforce Solutions Alamo’s Workforce Leadership Academy led by the Aspen Institute. Dr. Garcia serves as the Chair of the National League of Cities Human Development Committee and was elected to the NLC’s Board of Directors. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Dee Howard Foundation and Communities in School – San Antonio.
Dr. Garcia is a single mom to her son Steve, who graduated from Our Lady of the Lake University. She visits her octogenarian parents daily in the home where she grew up in Southwest San Antonio, even if it is simply to get a good night’s blessing from them before heading home.
