Daisy Fuentes: A lot of input. The one thing I have to offer is my sense of style, my experience throughout the years with fashion, trends and just being in the business. I'm not a kid anymore; I work, I'm busy and I still want to look good. I want to have quality fashion but I don't want to pay a lot for it.

Bankrate: You didn't come from a wealthy family. How influential was your upbringing to the woman you are today?

Daisy Fuentes: I remember a photograph of me with my granddad carrying me and a bowl of food because sometimes I would insist that I be fed when the pigs on the farm were fed. That's a lovely memory I have of my grandfather in Cuba. I think my humble background really does round out who I am and what I'm made of. I know that my first language, Spanish, opened up some doors for me. But I never take for granted what I have been blessed with in my life because I remember where I came from.

Bankrate: What is an expensive indulgence?

Daisy Fuentes: Smoking premium cigars and drinking fine Cognac with my good friends. Since I was a little girl I was surrounded by the cigars that my father and my granddad smoked. I would steal a puff and ask them for details about the cigars.

Bankrate: Do you spend a lot on pampering yourself?

Daisy Fuentes: I get my hair done; I get massages, but I'm not above doing my own nails before heading out to a party. I'm comfortable in sweats, hair in a ponytail and no makeup. Then I don't look like myself and nobody recognizes me as Daisy Fuentes.

Bankrate: When you started out, it was a different world for Latina performers. Do you think it's easier or more difficult now?

Daisy Fuentes: The word crossover wasn't thrown around as much back then, which was a bad thing and good thing -- bad because there weren't that many crossovers to be talked about and good because it wasn't something you had to think about. You just did it. Now there's so much attention focused on Latina performers that it does make it a bit more difficult. There isn't that much room for learning or for mistakes.

Bankrate: You are known for your fashion style and sense but can you remember when you weren't so chic?

Daisy Fuentes: The entire 1980s. Big hair was in and I had to have the biggest hair. Long nails were in -- my nails had to be the longest. When I see pictures of me from that era, I totally laugh at myself. But I've always loved to play up the trends and adapt them to me. Not so much now because I've learned from so many years of working in this field what really works for me. Now I've learned that I still want some element of trend because I want to be modern but it has to mix in with my basic sense of style which now is a bit more classic. I don't like trashy. I think the worst fashion trend lately is when it went from glam to grunge. I don't think ugly and dirty is ever in.

Bankrate: What would you say is the sexiest outfit a man can wear and the sexiest a woman can wear?

Daisy Fuentes: I think a man can't go wrong in a gorgeous tailored suit and I don't think men wear suits enough. I think men assume suits are for weddings or funerals. For women, the sexiest thing they can wear is a smile because women are sexy no matter what they're wearing.