At the age of 22, she moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles to finish art school and work with Michelle Bohbot and Bijan.

On September 3, 2001, Rockwood was involved in a car crash on California's Interstate 5 Highway between San Francisco and Los Angeles during a Labor Day weekend.

While they were returning late at night from visiting her maid of honor for her then-upcoming marriage to Dustin Nguyen, the driver Steffiana de la Cruz (also one of her bridesmaids) lost control of the car.

Vietnamese-American actress Thuy Trang of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was killed in the crash after she sustained internal injuries.

In 2012, The Sundance Channel announced the creation of Push Girls, a reality television series about living with paralysis in Hollywood produced by Gay Rosenthal, which cast Rockwood among "four dynamic, outspoken and beautiful women" in the Los Angeles area.