I grew up a fat kid in a small town in Minnesota who was a tomboy and happened to play a mean violin. My goal was to be a famous concert artist some day.

Our daughter was the last in her class to get a cell phone and she had to earn it. She still doesn't have Instagram although she asks me for it every day.

Being REAL means showing people who you are underneath all the TV make up 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.

Miss America gets a lot of flak, but the reality is that it is uplifting and aspirational - 50% percent of my points were based on talent.

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.

Trust is the most important aspect of being a journalist. If people don't trust or find you relatable - you will not have success.