I don't think you're ever ready to read your life back to yourself and try to make it entertaining for others.

I so desperately wanted to be honest, and I so desperately wanted to love myself and accept myself for who I was.

I want immigration reform to come into fruition, and I want it to be comprehensive, and I want it to have a path to citizenship, and I want to be involved politically every day.

I went through depression, which is something that we don't often talk about when we look at undocumented communities and deported families.

Every day, children who are U.S. citizens are separated from their families as a result of immigration policies that need fixing.

My real story is this: I am the citizen daughter of immigrant parents who were deported when I was 14. My older brother was also deported.

Neighbors broke the news that my parents had been taken away by immigration officers, and just like that, my stable family life was over.

For me, picking a college was really difficult. I wish I had had my parents there kind of supervising me. But I chose well. I did OK.

Throughout my childhood, I watched my parents try to become legal but to no avail. They lost their money to people they believed to be attorneys but who ultimately never helped. That meant my childhood was haunted by the fear that they would be deported.

I think despite what we've seen on TV, people like seeing women and knowing about women's stories and their struggles and their truth. I think we've seen it in a lot of these shows - when there's a cast of all women, it does very well.

I definitely binge-watched 'House of Cards' when it first came out.

We need someone who's going to govern on behalf of everyone in this country, including immigrants.

My father, who worked as a dishwasher, was especially anxious. He did not like being here undocumented.

My father was desperately trying to be a legal contributor to this society.

I feel like there's this misconception that immigrants come here and just don't care about the system and paying taxes, and that's not true.

Once my family was taken, I became fully aware that my community matters less to some people. That we are treated differently because of the color of our skin or where our parents were born.

I was lucky enough to be with my parents until I was 14. Having my parents tell me that I could do anything. I was special. I matter.

When I go to places, I love going to all those kind of amusement parks and kind of cheesy things to do.

'Forrest Gump' has been one of my favorite movies of all time.

My parents were desperately trying to become documented citizens of this country and tried very hard to get there, but to no avail.

We were like any other family with the same troubles and some of the same happy moments.

I always thought, 'Wow, I know I have an important story to tell,' but I never really thought it would happen.

I grew up in Boston.

Whatever the reason is, I am happiest when connecting with the human experience. It lets me know that I'm not alone in this world.