I've danced hula since I was 5. My mom danced hula as well. It's been in my family from far back and really connected me to my ancestors.

My friends have said, 'Wait, you're pretty, and you sing? What do you mean you're interested in science?' I have to just hold my head and go, 'Do you hear yourself?' By no means should you ever limit yourself because of what others think or because of their perceptions of what someone looks like in a certain field.

When I sing, it's different from when I speak in a very interesting way. I think that, when you're singing, a message is carried in a different way. I don't know if that emotion needs a melody.

I'm kind of an animated person. I was given this really big blessing that my voice just kind of carries the emotion.

There was absolutely no pressure from the family. It was my choice to pursue a career in music. I always wanted to do music, which has been close to heart. In fact, I was dead sure about it.

The truth is that at age 19, I was a teenage mother living alone with my daughter in a trailer and struggling to keep us afloat on my way to a divorce. And I knew then that I was going to have to work my way up and out of that life if I was going to give my daughter a better life and a better future, and that's what I've done.

I grew up with no money. My kids will grow up with a lot of money and so it's really important to me, and it will always be a part of my parenting, to keep them conscientious and connected socially to other people.

What happens with any announcer when he comes into an area, if he stays four or five years and does a fairly decent job, people accept him and he becomes part of the family.