I think I got one of the coolest kudos I've ever gotten from a fellow journalist woman who said to me, "Wow, Maria, I think you're one of the queens of never giving up."

And I was like, "I like that, yeah."

Queen of never giving up.

When I was growing up, politics was part of our everyday life.

The television was on to watch the evening news every single night.

And because of the moment in history that I was growing up in, the '60s and '70s, when it was the civil rights movement and the women's movement and the Vietnam War, the era of Richard Nixon, you know, of the impeachment.

So we were talking about politics all the time.

My dad was the only American citizen in our family, because we were all born in Mexico, and my dad became a citizen when he took his job at the University of Chicago.

My mom, being a new Mexican immigrant, was completely like a sponge of what was happening in our American history in that moment, which was the civil rights movement.

It was Dr. Martin Luther King who made me feel for the first time that I could in fact be an American.

He was my first role model, introduced by my mom.

As opposed to closing the doors and saying, "That's not who were are, we're new to this country," she in fact said, "Let's learn from this country, because that is who we are now."

And so those basic issues of owning your voice, of being part of an active democracy, were all taught to me by my mom, who was smaller than me.

And I'm five feet tall.

I did have a hard time looking at Barbara Walters, who at that time was a trailblazer, and seeing myself in her.

So I didn't immediately think, "Oh, this is what I will do."

I always thought, "How cool would it be to work in the world of journalism as a..." you know, in radio or television or writing.

But because I never saw myself reflected, I never actuall imagined that I could do that.

When one of my own career counselors said, "No, you can do this, you must do this," then I kind of said, "Okay, I'm going to try."

And I was working as a producer.

And my ah-ha moment was probably when I said, "You know what?

"I want to tell stories that I want to tell.

I want to be out there asking the questions."

I said, "Okay, I'm going to become a radio and television journalist."

Being a journalist, it's not just a job.

It's about understanding that my role as a part of history in this moment is important.

You know, covering September 11 at that time for CNN, and seeing tragedy every day, and thinking, "I can't do this any longer," getting up and doing it again, or the obstacle of, you know, wanting to launch my own media company, and, "Oh, my god, how am I possibl going to do this?"

Oftentimes women, and particularly women of color, Mexican women, we oftentimes feel powerless, and we let fear take over us.

When you realize that it's not just about you, and it's not just about the obstacle that you're facing, but rather it's a bigger part of history, in a way, and you realize that you have a role to play, then the obstacles become less imposing, and you get stronger.