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.

In Puerto Rico, we have a lot of traditions. We eat a very typical thing that's called 'pasteles' - it's almost like a tamale made of bananas, and we make it all together. Like, all the women of the family unite, and it's a very big deal, a very big thing.

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.

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 don't really work out. I eat a lot of sweets. I have chocolate all over my house.

I was very skinny and very lanky and kind of awkward. In Puerto Rico everybody is a little more voluptuous, with these beautiful bodies and there I was the skinny lanky girl.

Oh, I am such a little piggy. Everyone is always mad at me because I eat so much. They're like, 'How are you so skinny?' I eat more than my husband!