Eva Rivas has spoken to Armenian news site Hraparak about her career, her nationality and what it means to her be a woman.

The model and singer was born and raised in the Russian city of Rostov, but feels very much the importance of her Armenian nationality and heritage. I love my nationality, she told Hraparak. And I love my people, they would always fight to protect their nation.

But for Eva, there’s one stereotype about the Armenian people that is true: their hospitality and friendliness.

Armenians have always been known for their hospitality, she says. I love inviting my friends and relatives over. And even strangers! It’s nice to cook and bake for people.

Eva was first asked to compete in the Armenian national selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2005. I wasn’t ready then, she says of being asked. But five years on, Eva Rivas was ready. She competed in the national final in February 2010, and she won it. Three months later, she represented her country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, Norway, where she finished in seventh place at the grand final with the song, Apricot Stone. The lyrics of the song were written by Karen Kavaleryan, who had previously written the lyrics of Eurovision entries for Ani Lorak, Dima Bilan, Diana Gurtskaya, Dmitry Kuldun and Hayko, and show the thoughts and feelings of young Armenians growing up far from their country, or ‘motherland’. Much like Eva Rivas herself.

But it’s not just being Armenian that matters to Eva Rivas. It’s being an Armenian woman. I’m a real woman, she says. It’s not clothes that make you who you are. It’s not knowledge. It’s the soul.

You can read the interview in full here.