 Rodriguez attended the prestigious Brooklyn Technical High School, a specialized public school catering to engineering and science education.Beginning in high school, she became a community organizer, volunteering for many years with a variety of organizations on issues ranging from youth leadership, language rights, anti-police brutality, women's rights as well as education and health policy for the disenfranchised.She attended Fordham University and received her bachelor's degree at the New School University in New York.