She wears many hats—literally and figuratively. Camila Alves McConaughey is a dedicated wife and mother of 3 (and pet owner of 8, ICYWW). She’s also the founder of Women of Today, an online community filled with recipes, style inspo, health tips, and other advice powered by ladies around the globe. And now, she’s the author of Just Try One Bite, a book that, despite being for children, has inspired kids and parents to improve their eating habits.

Below, our fav Brazilian bombshell shares her best relationship advice, why the journey is always > the destination, and how to get along with your mother-in-law. (Hint: Sometimes you just gotta stick it to the woman.)

Your book is now a New York Times Best Seller—congrats! How does it feel?
Thank you! It’s really wild to hear. Sometimes I start projects with a level of expectation of what they might accomplish, but this one was really just a labor of love. I moved to this country knowing like 3 sentences, so to have a book with my name on it was already surreal. Then to make the list? I’m still processing that. I don’t cry for a lot of things, but for this, I had to.

So what inspired you to write a children’s book about eating habits?
My passion for inspiring families to do better for themselves. I’m not here to tell people what or how to feed their kids. I’m here to start a conversation about our relationship with food. Where does it come from? What’s considered good or bad for you, and why? The way we approach food should be joyful and fun. It’s not about being perfect—it’s just a matter of creating balance.

Matthew has mentioned how supportive you were when he was writing his book, Greenlights. Has he been just as supportive of your writing process?
He is very supportive! But let’s just say I don’t get to go to the desert and drink tequila to get inspired like he did [laughing].

And your 10-year anniversary is coming up! What’s your biggest tip for sustaining a healthy marriage?
I think the most important thing in a relationship is understanding that people evolve with time, and figuring out how to keep that evolution healthy. Things change as time passes. “We used to live here, now we live there.” “We didn’t have kids, now we have kids.” And I’m not afraid of change, but I think the essence of an individual and the essence of the relationship should never change. Whatever craziness goes on, you can always go back to it. It’s like a candle you can look at and say, “It’s still lit, so we’re okay.”

You also seem to get along great with your mother-in-law, MaMac. What advice would you give women struggling to get along with their partner’s parents?
It requires time, patience, and putting in the work. You can’t be like, “Oh, I’m annoyed, so I’m not dealing with it.” My relationship with MaMac was not easy in the beginning. I once invited her on this trip to Turkey, and during the whole plane ride she was getting in my head and making me paranoid about stuff. So I stood up for myself, and after that she was like, “Okay, you’re in.” That’s when our relationship really turned around. Mother-in-laws, they really try to see what you’re made of. And I think it’s okay to show them—in a nice way. Just don’t give up.

Tell us about Women of Today.
It’s is an online community with the goal of teaching women from all walks of life how to do better for themselves, their families, and their communities. It’s an exchange of ideas and knowledge. The majority of content is content the community asks for—food has been a major one. And we try to make everything super easy and affordable so anyone can get involved.

Okay, time to get deep. Once you’ve reached what most people would consider the epitome of success, how do you continue finding purpose in life?
Matthew and I both come from simple beginnings. We’ve both worked really hard for what we have, but we don’t measure our success based on the house we live in, the property we own, or any material things. We measure it by: Was that journey worth it? I’ve never done things just to get a result. I’ve never done things to say, “Oh, now I can buy this or have that.” I’ve always done it for the journey. If you have the right mission behind everything you do, the results will come.