YOU would think Carissa Cruz would have been used to the media attention by now, having grown up in a family deeply entrenched in show business and politics. But she can still giggle nervously.

On first meeting, Cruz strikes you as a regular casual thirty-something. For Sunday Times Magazine pictorial, she matched trendy jeans with a tailored top, dangled chandelier earrings from her earlobes, burst—again and again—into giggles and warmly joked a lot. But there are telltale signs that she is not so regular after all. She shakes your hand in a sure, tight grip and looks you in the eye when talking.