I'm a person who likes to give 100 percent to everything I do. I want to be the best at my job and as a mother.

When people watch me on TV they see part of my life. I wanted to let them know the real me behind the scenes. The child who was a concert violinist from the age of six. The young woman who took on the challenge to compete in the Miss America pageant. The television journalist for twenty-five years. The mother of two who, just like most women, struggles to balance work and family.

I felt like it was a sense of duty for me to give these women a voice.

Thanks to my upbringing, I always believed in myself and worked as hard as I could to get where I wanted to be. Nothing was ever handed to me.

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.

Through the many struggles in my life, my faith is sometimes the only thing I have to hold onto. God was my only friend.

I've never understood why it's a negative to showcase a talented, smart woman who also happens to be attractive.