A safe space to shred: Miami Girls Rock camp builds confidence through music
Fueled by sugar cookies and Dr. Pepper, dozens of kids were ready to rock at a downtown Miami nightclub.
The first Saturday of August, Miami Girls Rock Camp took over The Ground and Floyd, venues by the 24-hour party spot Space, for a performance that culminated a week of musical learning and play.
The kids were dressed in fishnets and legwarmers, some with colorful hair, as they hyped themselves up to perform with the bands they formed and named over the past week.
“It makes me hyper,” said one of the campers, sipping her Dr. Pepper from the lounge of Floyd, which acted as the green room before the shows.
Bands with names like Power-Tuff Girls and Pop Rocks, Hear the Explosion took over the space, filling it with glitter, sequin vests, pigtails, combat boots and classic black goth chokers.
Downstairs, The Ground — the underground basement venue at Space — was filled with parents, grandparents, siblings and family friends cheering on girl rock bands instead of the usual crowd of young adults looking for their next hookup.
Founded in 2015, Miami Girls Rock Camp offers girls and what they call “gender-expansive youth” a week-long summer camp where they learn to play instruments, form bands, write their own songs and perform them on stage in a live show. This year, they also joined a Brazilian percussion workshop and watched a live performance from a professional band each day for inspiration.
“It’s loud, it’s noisy, it’s unapologetic, it’s super, super fun,” said Steph Taylor, a musician and one of the camp’s founders.
“The nature of the work we do is a slippery slope, given the political climate. Our community and youth are getting their rights taken away left and right,” said Taylor.
But she added that this makes their mission feel even more urgent. “We are Do-It-Yourself, punk rock, community-based and community-driven.”
Rehearsals take place at the Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ, where days are jam-packed with instrument practice, band sessions — both loud and quiet — and workshops.
Many campers have no musical experience at all when they start, but end the week performing in a full-fledged band.
Zoe Quinones, drummer for the band Negative Space, said that on the first day of camp, she “had no idea what to do, and then on day two, I was doing the beats easy.”
Heather Burdick, another one of the founders and leader of the camp, said girls’ confidence drops substantially between ages 8 and 14, and that collapse can persist into adulthood. The camp tries to give the girls challenges so they have confidence in themselves.
“They build resilience through doing difficult things,” said Burdick. “We create an environment that is just deeply accepting of whoever you are at that time.”
One camper, a singer who Burdick described as a “diva,” came into camp her first year not wanting to work with anyone and throwing a temper tantrum, insisting she write the song herself. But over the course of the camp they worked with her to learn to work with others.
The next year, she returned with a much more collaborative spirit and would ask others: “Well, what do you think?”
The organization now also hosts a youth open mic on the last Sunday of every month — an event Taylor says they’re funding entirely out of pocket.
Showtime for the campers
Just before the musicians took the stage at the Girls Rock Camp concert, Taylor sat at the back of the club calling roll to be sure all 10 bands were present.
“Is all of Power Tuff Girls here?” she called out.
“Is all of Spirals here? Give me a meow!”
The girls meowed back in unison.
“Being a part of this and growing this is sort of my love letter to my teenage self,” Taylor said.
As kids tightened each other’s ties and posed for photos next to handmade band posters, Taylor smiled. “We are tapping into the power that they already have inside of them.”
Before taking the stage, the campers recited their affirmations together. One would yell, “I can do hard things!” and the others would echo it back loudly.
Eight-year-old Olivia Demaura, who made sure to note she’ll “soon be turning 9,” came prepared. “I do have a list of affirmations in my backpack,” she said.
“I am brave, I am strong, I am beautiful, things like that,” added Demaura, a third-grader at Pinecrest Academy who was rocking pink Converse for her performance.
Once the kids took the stage under red and purple lights, they gave it their all.
Their original band artwork projected as a backdrop — cats at drum sets, birds holding guitars — as the campers bopped their heads and performed their original songs.
Javier Ramos, a bouncer and security worker at the club, said the Girls Rock Camp is a welcome change of pace. “I’d rather this than the crazy music that goes on.”
A camper named Sunshine, dressed in a two-piece outfit printed with musical notes, ended her set on her knees. When a microphone malfunctioned, the crowd erupted into a chant of “Power Tuff! Power Tuff!” until the issue was fixed.
Lyrics like, “You betray me, don’t try to taint me!” echoed through the dark, windowless basement. Another sang, “I’m not gonna keep my hair long — I’m gonna show you who I am” and “This is my rebellion.”
When Pop Rocks finished their set, the band members, including 10-year-old Mehira Hernandez, downed some of the iconic ‘90s candy and tossed the rest into the audience.
Negative Space began with a spoken-word intro, then broke into their song’s defiant refrain: “At least I’m living my dream.”
After the show, Sabine, 18, a cellist and former camper, spoke on stage.
“I am a classically trained cellist,” she said, “and it’s beautiful to let go of rigidity, and it helped me feel free to be who I am unapologetically without exception.”
To donate to Miami Girls Rock Camp, you can send a Zelle to miamigirlsrockcamp@gmail.com. You can also Paypal @MiamiGirlsRockCamp or Venmo @miamigirlsrockcamp
More information regarding becoming an individual or business sponsor, can be found on their site here or by visiting miamigirlsrockcamp.org/donate.
This story was originally published October 13, 2025 at 4:30 AM.
