Rocha was born Mikhaila Rocha in Toronto, Ontario, and grew up in Richmond, British Columbia where she attended Hugh McRoberts Secondary School. Her family is in the airline industry. She has two siblings. She is of Irish and Ukrainian descent.\n', '

In 2002, agent Charles Stuart approached Rocha at an Irish dance competition and asked her if she would consider modeling for him. At that point, she had never thought of modeling before. When she did begin to model, her knowledge of fashion was limited. She eventually gained insight into the fashion world after her best friends crammed in fashion study sessions in between studying for exams. Her breakthrough came two years later, in January 2006, when she opened the Christian Lacroix couture show in Paris. After signing an exclusive contract with photographer Steven Meisel, she appeared in an editorial with Gemma Ward and Amanda Moore and landed the cover of the April 2006 issue of Vogue Italia. The following March, she walked the Fall/Winter 2006 ready-to-wear show at New York Fashion Week, most notably for Anna Sui and Marc Jacobs. Backstage at the Anna Sui show, Rocha met model Naomi Campbell, who held her hands and told her she was "her new favourite model". During Paris Fashion Week she walked for esteemed designers like Stella McCartney, Shiatzy Chen, Christian Lacroix, Emanuel Ungaro, and Marc Jacobs.\n', '

A year later, in February 2007, Rocha opened Jean Paul Gaultier\'s Scottish Highlands-inspired Fall/Winter 2007 show by Irish-dancing down the runway; American Vogue dubbed this the "Coco Moment" and suggested it as a sign that the fashion industry misses the "supermodels". Rocha was featured on the May 2007 issue of US Vogue with models Doutzen Kroes, Caroline Trentini, Raquel Zimmermann, Sasha Pivovarova, Agyness Deyn, Jessica Stam, Hilary Rhoda, Chanel Iman, and Lily Donaldson as the "World\'s Next Top Models." In 2008 casting agent James Scully said of Rocha:\n', '

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