Especially as a title-holder, you can do great things with charities, because people suddenly care about what you have to say. I wanted to make a difference, which is why I created the Queen of the Universe pageant. I want to change all of those stigmas in the beauty pageant world.

Pageants were a platform for me, and they helped me get to where I am today. You suddenly stop being just another girl, and people want to listen to what you have to say.

'Housewives' are a million times cattier than pageant girls! I know pageant girls have a reputation for being catty, but 'Housewives' are even cattier. But I do think that it's a total different world, and it can't compare.

I do an international beauty pageant called Queen of the Universe for UNESCO, and what we do is we build kindergartens around the world.

I never thought anything was strange in Puerto Rico other than the big mosquitos; because I was born there, nothing was really foreign to me. I think what I saw strange coming to L.A. was that a lot of people are a little bit two-faced. In Puerto Rico, you don't get that.

I must be very clear in one thing... Being a pageant girl is not who I am or what defines me.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year because it reminds us to give thanks and to count our blessings. Suddenly, so many things become so little when we realize how blessed and lucky we are.