My hope is that when people read my story, it will inspire them to reach for their goals and not give up. The real story is this: if I can do it, you can too.

The discipline learned from putting in time and effort as a child is a skill and a talent you carry with you for the rest of your life in trying to achieve goals.

My messaging is not just to empower women, it's actually more directed at men because I think it's important for the men on college campuses to hear a women's perspective on how you shouldn't behave in the workplace.

I'm not superwoman. It's impossible to do everything 100 percent all of the time. And suggesting that women should be able to do it only puts more pressure on them.

The challenging part of parenting is to stick to your ideals and not give in.

One of my Miss America judges called me a "God-clutcher" way back when because I spoke about my faith being an important part of my life during my interview.

If you Google me, you'll find plenty of "dumb blonde" references - even though I graduated with honors from Stanford and studied at Oxford University. I don't let it bother me.