Kirstin Maldonado

I loved performing and knew it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, that regardless of monetary success, I wanted to make an impact while doing what I loved and that would be successful for me.

A miserable karaoke experience is when people are trying really hard and trying to show off. You have to just be chill - that's what makes karaoke fun.

Every single 'no' that you get, you know that that was an experience that you learned from. Keep going.

I always wanted to do musical theater. That was where I saw my life going since I was a musical theater major in college before I went to Pentatonix.

It's really, really cool that we've been able to have these opportunities to surround ourselves with these people because they're brilliant. Like, Dolly Parton is legendary, and she's maybe the nicest person I've ever met in my entire life and, like, amazing.

Being able to wake up every day knowing I'm living out my dream of performing is the best feeling in the world.

I started voice lessons when I was eight years old.

When Pentatonix started, my whole vision of what I thought my life was gonna be completely changed - in a great way, obviously. I never thought that I would have the confidence to do this.

I want people to see that I'm just a girl who went for her dreams.

As individuals, we are so different in our personalities, lifestyles, how we grew up, and our culture.

I feel like it has been a journey throughout the years to be accepting of my culture - I always felt different and not as accepting of it.

We're very comfortable in our own sound and what we do, and so that's where our inspiration is from - just things that we are truly inspired by or that we think will work well for us, and not just because something is Top 40.