'Growing Stronger' emerged from a need to relate my life experiences as well as my constant struggle to prevail each day, and as a reminder to myself of the importance of never giving up.
My kids are my No. 1 priority. They're the light in my everyday life. The sunshine. The miracle. Those eyes. Those smiles. At the same time, I have an extended, amazing family that is my audience. All these people have been with me for such a long time. I have these two responsibilities.
I am so excited to have created a line that has been inspired by my culture - showing its color, its passion and its greatness - and one that captures much of my personal style.
My husband is American but Italian. Then I have the Mexicano side. I see both in my kids. My daughter is more Italian - she leans towards pizza - and my son leans more towards guacamole and puts lime in everything.
When you are gestating, you feel full of life, you feel full of joy, you feel full of fantasy, of stories.
I was thrilled to play a role on 'Dora the Explorer,' a show that has touched the lives of many children around the world, including my own child. Dora is such an iconic and important Latina heroine, and I'm proud to now be a part of the show's ever-growing legacy.
A lot of singers find a musical genre people like and stick with it. That's being a conformist. I sing ballads, rock, salsa, rap.
Kids just want to have one song. They don't care about a body of work; they don't even care about a whole album - they just want whatever's hot right now. They download that song, and that's it.
My idea is to bring out the inner child that my generation has inside, which does not go to sleep because of so much angst over the day-to-day routine. With so much going on, you start tuning out emotions and surprises.
There were a lot of little triggers that made me realize that life is now; life is happening while we're preoccupied with stupidities. Of course, growing. Of course, becoming a mother and understanding life from another perspective.
There's some anxiety the 30 minutes before the show starts. But once you step on stage and face the people, everything goes away, and you have fun and enjoy the audience.
I think that nothing is impossible when you want to fulfill a dream. A lot of people will tell you that you can't do it, that you don't have what it takes, but if it is in your heart and you feel it, there is nothing that will stop you. It is like the sun - you can't block it: it will shine regardless, if that is what you want.
There are stereotypes - it's like an invisible line, but somehow you have to find the energy to be strong, to be super-confident, no matter if you are in front of the president of the U.S. or anyone else.
I think it's important if you're American to have a second language, and Spanish is the language to have.
As you know, Hurricane Sandy has affected thousands of families, leaving them without electricity, without household goods and, in the worst cases, without a home.
Since I was a little girl, I have witnessed the strength and courage that energized my mother, who left every sorrow and pain in the past, who would work unyieldingly to obtain her goals, who was the great warrior from whom I learned all the values that are today fundamental pillars of my every day.