Getting involved in a newsroom and seeing how it operated and the urgency of live television really got my attention.
I grew up in Florida, started fishing with my dad going down to the Everglades and around the state, plus some offshore stuff for sails and wahoo - but I never really got the bug until my husband and I went float fishing on the Snake River at Jackson Hole for trout - I've been pretty much addicted ever since.
That year I went to Miss America, that was the first year I had competed in an adult pageant, if you could call it that. So it was zero to 60.
I like to think that I could survive should the apocalypse or zombies show up.
Instead of just surviving life and hoping to make it through one more day, I live my life with joy now, and I'm incredibly grateful.
Walk away from medical professionals who dismiss your concerns, and don't quit searching until you find someone who will truly partner with you to find the answers you deserve.
Basically, I suffer from a genetic condition that causes my corneas to tear all the time. If it's happened to you even once, you know how agonizing it can be - for me, it was happening on a daily basis.
I want to feel like I can take care of myself.
I've been very open about this cornea disease that I have.
My eyes are never going to be perfect.
People watch TV, and think your life perfect. I wanted to be honest and say, 'I've been through tough places and you can make it through too.'
I grew up in a very strict household, where secular music was forbidden.
Any book that you're writing about your life, there are tough chapters that you've gotten through, you've survived them, and kind of closed them up.
From breaking down the latest headlines on 'FOX News @ Night' to explaining the complexities of the law, I have had the opportunity to report from the front lines of the major stories emanating out of Washington.
For me, my faith is the most important thing in my life.
When you see that the head of human resources is sitting in the meeting you've been called into, it's not a good sign.
Around my 40th birthday, I started to have extraordinary pain in my eyes and it was only happening overnight and I couldn't figure out what the source was of this but it would literally shoot me out of bed in enormous pain, doubled over.
The Lord creates us all in different ways and gives us all different passions and different paths.
I try to say to myself, this is the season that the Lord has you here. Don't hold too tightly to it because you don't know what other adventures or things are coming down the line and I just try to be open to what the Lord may have next.
Any show should be open to listening to constructive criticism.
