Play for Caroline.
Change a Life.

Our Story

Raised in Jamaica Queens.
Remembered everywhere.

Caroline Ruby Okantey was born December 10, 1971, in Brooklyn, New York — and from day one, the world was better for it. She graduated from St. John's University and earned her Master's from Columbia University. She served as a police officer, then built a 26-year career as a UPS supervisor — showing up every single day with that infectious smile that made her impossible not to love.

Caroline was a powerful speaker at conferences including the NEPA Women's Leadership Conference. She was a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother — and the granddaughter of Nene Azzu Mate Kole II, the fourth Konor of the Manya Krobo Traditional Area in southeastern Ghana, who reigned as paramount chief and statesman from 1939 to 1990. That royal lineage runs through this organization. Her roots are why Caroline's Hoop Dreams reaches beyond Miami, all the way to Ghana and kids across the world.

On February 20, 2021, Caroline passed away from kidney cancer after a long and courageous fight. She was 49. Her brother Dwayne made her a promise — that her love, her warmth, and her belief in people would live on. Caroline's Hoop Dreams is that promise kept.