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I am Dominican American. My father was born and raised in the U.S. and his heritage is German and Eastern European, and my mother hails from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

When I was living in the Dominican Republic, the local kids became a part of my family.

Being Latina, I'm super close with my family. I love them, and I love spending time with them. I love being at my grandma's house and eating her food.

The Dominican is a real nice place to go for vacation. It is a poor country, but it has another side. Beautiful beaches. It's like every country. You're going to have a lot of poor people, but there's a beautiful side, too.

My sister, she's amazing. She sort of inspired me to take this journey to Latin America.

My parents, fleeing a repressive regime in the Dominican Republic, were embraced by this country and taught us to love it in return. After my father served proudly in the U.S. Army, they settled in Buffalo, N.Y., and were able to live the American Dream.

I'm just this Dominican kid from New Jersey.

In the Dominican, there are a lot of kids who need help. I just do that for my mom because my mom liked to help a lot of kids in the Dominican. Whoever I am right now is because of her. She gave me the education; she always took care of me like a mommy.

When I was a kid, I believed in Santa Claus. But it was very tough because in the Dominican... there are not a lot of rich people there.

I'm made in the Dominican. I'm from baseball country.