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.

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

In the Miss America system talent is worth 50 percent of a contestant's points so my mom encouraged me to give it a try. And once I decided to do it, like anything else, I gave it 110 percent.

We have rules in the house and a sticker chart for my kids to earn technology time. Maybe its because of the world I live in and work, that I don't see much of anything beneficial that comes out of social media for kids. Even though its how they communicate now, so you have to find the fine balance.

Gratitude needs to come back in a big way and I hope to encourage people to get involved.

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.

It is what it is. It, meaning terrorism. Terrorism is what it is.