Felisa Rincón de Gautier (; also known as Doña Fela; January 9, 1897 – September 16, 1994) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the mayor of the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. She was the first woman to be elected as mayor of a capital city in the Americas. Early years Rincón de Gautier was born on January 9, 1897, in Ceiba, Puerto Rico. The oldest of all siblings (Felisa, Josefina, Cecilia, Esilda, Ramón, Rafael, Enrique and Rita), she was politically influenced by her father, attorney Enrique Rincón Plumey, family of an earlier Mayor of Yabucoa. Her mother, teacher Rita Marrero Rivera, died when she was around 11 years old. However, her father was determined to give her the best education possible. She went to school in Fajardo, Humacao and Santurce although she did not graduate from high school; in the summers she visited her uncle in San Lorenzo where she learned how to prepare medications pharmacy and became a pharmacist. Of Spanish descent; her direct paternal grandfather Francisco Rincón Martín came from Salamanca, Spain. After her mother died, her father married Mercedes Acha, the mother of her half brother Manuel. Felisa ran the household and raised her younger brothers and sisters. In the early 20th Century, "there was no welfare on the island; no social department to provide money or clothing or food for the poor (but) no jíbaro would let another jíbaro starve. This was the most important truth she learned. The jíbaros were a people steeped in tradition, the noblest of which was their hospitality" (Ruth Gruber, Felisa Rincon de Gautier: The Mayor of San Juan). An expert seamstress, Felisa set herself the goal of creating employment in Puerto Rico by launching a local clothing factory. In order to master necessary skills she worked for two years in New York City during the Great Depression, living with relatives, including her sister Josefina. Upon her return to San Juan, she entered the wholesale/retail business and opened Felisa's Style Shop on Calle Fortaleza in Old San Juan. She also managed a flower shop called Miles de Flores. Throughout her lifetime, she remained closely tied to the Roman Catholic Church as she directed her efforts to raising the standards of living for impoverished Puerto Ricans. Women's rights activist Rincón de Gautier was a firm believer in the women's right to vote and was an active participant in