Veronica Vega turns heads when she walks in a room, pops up on your Instagram feed, or appears on an episode of VH1’s Love & Hip-Hop Miami. Whether she’s wearing a jaw-dropping outfit or participating in an intense workout, her toned body and undeniable confidence are hard to miss. Although she is best known for her songs Wicked feat Pitbull, Pay Me, and A Million feat Quavo, her fitness journey caught our attention and earned her PRETTY GIRLS SWEAT’s 2021 Sweatlebrity Award.

As the daughter of a young mom, healthy eating wasn’t the norm at home, so as she entered the entertainment industry, she participated in some weight loss habits that weren’t the best. In addition, finding ways to make fitness fun with scorching temperatures in Hialeah, FL, was also a struggle. However, once she started seeking help from a nutritionist and appreciating how an active lifestyle improves her skin and athleticism, she became more committed to a healthy lifestyle.

So PGS founder Aeshia DeVore Branch chatted with the international entertainer and humanitarian to get the 411 on her health journey from childhood to her career as a performing artist.

They covered:

• How her upbringing shaped her thoughts on fitness
• The pressures of maintaining a certain look in the music industry
• A2MIA: her cross-state bicycle ride from Atlanta, Ga to Miami, FL.

On what PRETTY GIRLS SWEAT means to her:

“As I evolved, I realized that pretty has a stigma on it that has been created by society that has nothing to do with what pretty actually is. Pretty is perceived to be something that is physical. I believe that pretty is something that is spiritual. I think a pretty person is a person that has the energy to be able to change someone else’s life. I think our purpose in this world is to be able to contribute to other people.”

“And pretty girls do sweat. Pretty girls don’t only sweat in the way of working out. Pretty girls sweat because it is very difficult to be pretty. Being pretty is a lot of hard work. Being pretty is constantly giving. Being pretty is constantly learning. And being able to exude and give all the things you have learned to others. So pretty girls sweat to me is hard work. Because it may not be physical, but hard work is everything that you can do constantly. So whether it’s feeding your body the right food, the right information, the right atmosphere… those things take time, those things take energy. That’s what the sweat is for me. Sweat is the energy that is exerted to complete something. That’s what comes out of your body. So there is no way that a pretty girl can be pretty without sweating.”

Follow @VeronicaVega on Instagram!