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36 || MOST FITNESS || JUNE / JULY 2016MFM: The lyrics of Surrender seem very real. Can you tell us where they come from and the effect you hoped they would have? JV: Thank you for listening to my lyrics! Lyrics are something that I pay a lot of attention to. My song Surrender is about me surrendering my ego and realizing that I cannot live as a healthy individual if I am going out to party all the time. I was using partying as a means to drown my pain after my mom passed away. It pushed me over the edge to where I felt like I didn%u2019t care anymore. It was a very unhealthy place to be. Surrender is about surrendering to win, surrendering to the fact that we are only human, and that sometimes we need to reach out to get help from people who can help us. It%u2019s definitely touched some of my fans in ways I didn%u2019t expect. MFM: You describe yourself as a feminist. What are the most important issues that women are voting for in the next presidential election?JV: Feminist issues always come down to women being seen and represented as equal human beings. Strong women are the future with equal pay, equal rights, and healthcare. It%u2019s okay to be a mom and a working woman at the same time. Lawmakers need to support that. I want to hear louder female voices in everything this year, and I want whoever becomes president to support those voices 100%!MFM: Why is it important to you to be a free spirit?JV: Being a free spirit means I can be whoever I create. As a girl I%u2019m expected to play a certain role, and I don%u2019t want to play a certain role. I want to be Joy Villa. I want to be who I was born to be. I want to be the sexy siren or the vampy vixen and also the good girl. I am a free spirit because I%u2019m a spiritual being, and that%u2019s the ultimate freedom.MFM: How or why did you become a vegan? Why is it important to you?JV: I became a vegan 11 years ago, and before that I was raised vegetarian. My older brother, Ryjin, is a vegan as well. A girl in school explained to me that she was going vegan, and I started looking it up online and read as many books as I could get my hands on. I went vegan for all of the reasons people go vegan: to stop suffering, to stay healthy, and to be in better touch with my body. I%u2019m writing a book on vegan fitness called The Fit and Sexy Vegan which will be an e-book available on my website and will be an easy guide to transitioning to Vegan or if you just want to try a little bit of the vegan lifestyle to