It was very interesting [book Fast Food Nation] because all my friends who were in college, [and] this book became almost mandatory for them to read.

No matter what our situation is, there's always a way to celebrate life and there's always a way to start again.

Because I had an accent, people had this impression that I was dumb.

I got hit twice in the face, and that was not fun.

Make sure that everything you produce and create is organic to you.

My dad had a couple of professions in mind for me. He either wanted me to be a doctor because he said male doctors make a lot of money, or he wanted me to be a soccer player. Myself, I thought that I would really love being a pilot for the Air Force. I really wanted to be a part of the Air Force.

I can honestly say from my experience, my family and I had to start from scratch. We left Venezuela back in 1998 and sold the few things we had to come to America in search of the American dream. We went through really tough times. There were moments where we were wondering are we going to make it.