Music has always been one of the highest forms of art for me. You will rarely catch me watching TV, but you can almost always catch me with melodies playing in the background on a cool playlist.

There is something about a beat mixed with the right lyrics that helps set my mood.

Music has helped me find the words that got lost in the mix of my big feelings during some of the most trying times in my life, or even evoke emotions of joy when I think back to certain periods.

When Marc Anthony's "Hasta Ayer" comes on, I visualize my mom on Saturdays with the Fabuloso, singing at the top of her lungs when I was a kid in Brooklyn.

When Jay-Z's "Can I Live" comes on, I remember long walks from my high school to my house, with the occasional stop at the Chinese store for french fries and chicken wings with the BBQ sauce.

When I hear Erykah Badu's "On and On", I remember my older cousin burning incense in the house and making me put on a head scarf. That evening, she said, we would channel Erykah Badu's energy. It was the first time I read Tarot cards.

When I hear Lil Wayne's "A Milli", I remember myself on the quad at Syracuse with my friends, being loud and crazy. We really were something.

When I hear Jay-Z's "Anything", I remember long conversations about "making it" and "making something of ourselves" with my best friend Evin.

When Eve Bounce Remix comes on, I think about my best friend Yoni, drives along the PCH with her foot out the window — heater on, but window open so we can be hot and cold at the same time.

… the list could go on, but we'd be here forever.

The point is that I can distinctly remember periods of time in my life and certain pieces of music that aligned so well with those moments. Some have been joyful. Some have been fun. Many have been tied to my own pain and healing from it.

When I was introduced to Heidi Rojas for this week's episode of Behind The Work, I was really excited. I've never had a musical artist on the show. We have mostly sat down with founders, corporate execs and entrepreneurs, and in many ways, that is what a musical artist is.

Heidi has done so much in her career and we talked about music, motherhood and the intersection of those things. She even gave me some insight into her Madre Creator Collective and her book, I Am Enough, Soy Fuerte Ya.

I'm so grateful for the time I spent with her. It spoke deeply to my heart.

This Week's Interview Is Here:

Heidi Rojas is a platinum-selling, #1 hit songwriter, artist, author, proud first-generation Latina, and millennial mama of two — based in Los Angeles, California. Raised in Chicago by a Cuban father and a Guatemalan mother, Heidi wrote her first song at eight years old and has never stopped.

She earned a Business degree in Marketing for Music & Entertainment from Baylor University, worked at Warner Bros. Records in Nashville, and moved to LA in 2010 to pursue her artist career. What followed was a decade of extraordinary work behind the scenes: co-writing two UK #1 hits — Little Mix's debut single "Wings" and Cheryl Cole's "Crazy Stupid Love" — and collaborating with artists like Pitbull, Dove Cameron, New Kids on the Block, Natasha Bedingfield, and Kelly Rowland. Her music has been featured on Pitch Perfect 3, American Idol, Glee, Dancing with the Stars, and Good Morning America, among many others.

Now, Heidi has stepped fully into the spotlight as a solo artist — sharing deeply personal songs born from nearly a decade of therapy, healing, and motherhood. She is also the published author of a bilingual children's book called "I Am Enough / Soy Fuerte Ya", based on her song with the same title about the strength she discovered in reconnecting with her heritage and her ancestors.

Heidi is the founder of Madre Creator Collective, a community and creative space designed to support mothers in reconnecting with their artistry, voice, and ambitions, proving that motherhood and creative fulfillment can coexist and deepen one another. Through events she hosts like Dance Parties Save Lives and workshops like The Songs We Carry, Heidi is on a mission to empower women, Latinas, and mamas to pursue their passions at any stage of life.