Ana Perez rolls cigars at an event. Photo courtesy of the New York Times.

New Jersey social worker Ana Perez is part of a rare breed. She is a woman cigar roller in an industry dominated by men, according to this article in the New York Times.

Perez, who immigrated to the United States from Cuba with her grandparents and immediate family, learned the art of cigar rolling from her father. She rolled her first cigar at age nine and her father displayed her amateurish attempt in the family china cabinet for years.

Now Perez is hired to roll cigars at weddings, parties, corporate events and other venues.

Perez earned a master’s degree in social work from Wheelock College in Boston and works with troubled youth. She tries to keep her cigar rolling job separate from her social work.

“I don’t want my little youth finding my photos online and teasing me and not taking me seriously as a social worker,” she said. “But I am proud to be a cigar roller.”