Cassie Ventura

I did musical theater, and I did dancing for what it was at the performing arts high school that I went to. I went to a school where I was there on a scholarship. So I think when you're on a scholarship, you always work a tad harder, or you want to work a tad harder than the next person.

The importance of heart health became very real for me when my father died of heart disease seven years ago. Having experienced the loss first hand, I am inspired to do everything I can to break the cycle and prevent families from losing loved ones to this preventable disease.

I don't think of people as black or white. It's a question of are they photogenic or not? I don't think anyone says, 'Let's book her. She's black.' I think they say, 'Let's book her. She's good.' We've come that far.