I might be a Cuban American, but I'm also an Afro-Cuban American.

I grew up speaking both languages, and for me that's really important.

I just lived it and did my own thing without looking over my shoulder. I think I'm very lucky, considering when I started everything, and the fact that I have a masters in music, and I've always worked in music, and that's what I wanted to do.

It happened in Miami, in Coral Gables, a great big ol' Cuban wedding. It was pretty intense.

I was a teacher for a long time. I taught at a community college: voice, theory, humanities. And nowadays, music education is a dying thing. Funding is being cut more and more and more.

And my career, the things that have happened have happened because of my music education background.

So, when I got the contract for my album, even though it was an English record, my manager insisted on making sure we would record in Spanish as well, and it worked out really well for me.