I'd like to see more beauty campaigns for girls who are mixed Latina and black. And if I'm in them, that's great, but overall there's a scarcity there. Companies need to be more mindful of the world we live in and who their consumer is.

I felt most beautiful on the red carpet in Givenchys sheer lace dress at a dinner hosted by Givenchy in honor of Marina Abramovich at the closing of her Museum of Modern Art retrospective, The Artist is Present, in 2010. It was the first time I had been dressed for an event, and everybody just fell in love with the dress.

When you want something so bad and when something great happens, I think it's instinct that you say, 'This is gonna be the moment that's gonna change everything. Everybody is gonna see me a different way.'

I was always very, very insecure about my height. Even as a 15-year-old I was a foot and a half taller than everyone.

When you look at the world, the world isn't just one palette. It's a beautiful rainbow, and why not have someone to represent that rainbow?

I'm a little bit of everything. Sometimes people think I'm not Puerto Rican, because my name doesn't sound Spanish.

I've always been athletic. Growing up in Puerto Rico, and being in the countryside, I was always running around. I also played volleyball, basketball, and I ran track. I was always very conscious of my body.