At my age I can handle people writing junk about me on social media, but I sometimes air "mean tweets" on my show to highlight how destructive this meanness and bullying is to young people. I know how devastating it is for a young person to be the victim of such ugliness.

Our faith is what inspires us to reach out and volunteer to help others. As a child my parents taught me the biblical charge, "To whom much is given, much is expected," and faith guides me that way. And I believe, especially in this day and age, it's vital that we provide our children with a foundation from which to build their lives - one that gives them a sense of purpose.

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.

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.

I'm a big believer in always challenging yourself and learning new skills.

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

To me, faith is being thankful when things in life are going well and also being thankful when they are not. Its often through our most difficult times when faith lifts us up and gives us the courage and the strength to work even harder to accomplish a new goal or do something we never thought we could.