I always knew, even as a kid, that my mom had a really rough life, and I always wanted to make her feel happy and to make her feel good.

It might sound dramatic and a little grandiose, but as a Latina, I would like to be someone that gives a voice to my culture.

I think we need to have stories about women that don't necessarily fit the trope of the classic woman, because they do exist. We have to show real life on TV and film. And we don't. We only see maybe 5 percent of what real people are really like. I mean, movies set in Los Angeles that don't have any minorities in them - how does that happen?

There aren't any concrete steps to becoming a comic.

Whatever you want to do with your life, you really got to want it. And if you want it, and you work hard, it will happen.

As a kid, I really wanted to have my own show. But when you grow up in poverty, people tell you nothing is possible. So I kind of gave up on that dream.

My stand-up has a lot of performance in it, and I loved doing it so much that, after years, I put the idea of having a show on the back burner.