The knowledge that I’m using the gift God gave me, and being a voice for women. That’s what drives me.

For me, use your voice. If you have a talent, you have a gift, you have a purpose and a ‘why’ - use it

It is strange but I’m proud to be considered a role model. It’s almost weird to hear those words but they mean a lot.

Not everybody chooses to be a role model. But once you are, you have an obligation to your fans and the people that look up to you. You try to make a positive impact.

I'm not only just a role model to say, 'See what I did, you can do it too', but to actually give people the tools and the techniques and the research to understand how to break through those barriers. I love that I get to do that.

"It's very important for me to get to be a role model for women, minorities and people with disabilities.

I don't feel the need to be a role model, it's just something that's been thrust upon me. Teachers and a lot of Asian-American organizations, for example, say to me, "We need you to come and speak to us because you're a role model." ... Placing on writers the responsibility to represent a culture is an onerous burden. Someone who writes fiction is not necessarily writing a depiction of any generalized group, they're writing a very specific story.

I try to use whatever voice I do have to speak out against injustices, and that’s what I hope I continue to do in this part of my career. When I see bad things happening, I can’t just pretend I didn’t see them. I want to use my voice for good

I do feel that I have to use my voice for those that don’t have one. I have to do the best I can in my own work to represent my culture, represent the women of my country, of Latin America. What we stand for. What we’re made of. I feel like there is a part of me that represents a minority in the US, a minority around the world. People who struggle, people who want to succeed with drive and ambition. So, people who want to try – yeah, I do feel in a way like an ambassador, for all of those.

I’m a woman boss with a voice, dreams, stories to tell and the ability to tell them. My motivation is that I’m blessed with a gift and because of that, I get to walk and live my life with a purpose.

as a woman, they look at me as a role model. Therefore, as a role model, I need to set targets for myself and them. I need to set something that they will follow.

When a young person, even a gifted one, grows up without proximate living examples of what she may aspire to become — whether lawyer, scientist, artist, or leader in any realm — her goal remains abstract. Such models as appear in books or on the news, however inspiring or revered, are ultimately too remote to be real, let alone influential. But a role model in the flesh provides more than inspiration; his or her very existence is confirmation of possibilities one may have every reason to doubt, saying, 'Yes, someone like me can do this.