With this new album, I prepared for it a long time, and I was happy with the songs and the production. I felt that I proved myself with the first album, and with this new album, I just want to share some of my music. And that was always my feeling and my intention.

And my career, the things that have happened have happened because of my music education background.

For me, there's still a lot of room to grow; I'm just happy that I have so much more to give.

I grew up in a community that was bilingual. I've done it for a while, singing in both languages.

I grew up speaking both languages, and for me that's really important.

I have a bachelor's and a master's in jazz.

I might be a Cuban American, but I'm also an Afro-Cuban American.

I'm a big believer in education, period.

It happened in Miami, in Coral Gables, a great big ol' Cuban wedding. It was pretty intense.

My style is a very universal sound, which is very close to where I grew up.

Oh, yeah, I've always thought of covering some of my influences like Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder.

Well, I always wanted to be educated and be prepared.

A real active music set, based and really concentrated on what the music's all about. That's what I'm all about - singing and a really good strong music set.

And for me, it's been, not only where I learned, but the people that I met there. Most of the people that I work with are guys that, one way or another, have been associated with the university.

For me, I can only do that from my own experience with people I've known and things that I've lived and experienced. That's what good pop music is all about, pop music that does reach out to people. It's very personalized and very real, honest and sincere.

Having a college degree gave me the opportunity to be... well-rounded. Also, the people I met at the university, most of them are still my colleagues now. People I've known for years are all in the industry together.

I just lived it and did my own thing without looking over my shoulder. I think I'm very lucky, considering when I started everything, and the fact that I have a masters in music, and I've always worked in music, and that's what I wanted to do.

I started in high school to be interested in music and from there, I decided to study in college. Yeah, you're right, I did start late, but luckily, because of my schooling, I picked up a lot of ground pretty quick.

I was a teacher for a long time. I taught at a community college: voice, theory, humanities. And nowadays, music education is a dying thing. Funding is being cut more and more and more.

If there was any other place I would live, other than Miami, it would be California. It's beautiful. The weather is just gorgeous, I love being here, too.