"Seeing a little bit of me in her, with her bronze skin and dark hair, I knew that was what I wanted to do when I grew up," Sanchez says. "The little girl in me started to dream."

Sanchez was born in 2003, almost a decade after Selena's death in 1995. Like many younger fans and singers, she got to know the Tejano icon better through the 1997 "Selena" film starring Jennifer Lopez and the legendary last concert at the Astrodome. It spurred Sanchez to take a deep dive into Selena on YouTube. Soon after, Sanchez began performing around San Antonio and was offered a spot to sing on "Sábado Gigante," the long-running variety show. She also competed on "La Voz Kids," a Spanish-language version of "The Voice" for contestants 15 and younger.