Jenni Rivera, a world-renowned Mexican-American singer who was best known for her Banda style, died in a tragic plane crash two years ago. Now, on the anniversary of her death, fans are remembering her lively spirit and the way she beat the odds to rise up in a male-dominated musical genre.

Rivera herself once said that she thought people would remember her as a strong woman who never gave up, even when the odds looked insurmountable.

“They’re going to think of a woman who’s real. They’ll think about a woman who went through hell and back and never gave up. No one else has ever opened doors for me—I opened them myself. And people have a problem with women who do that. They have a problem when we’re no longer as passive and submissive as, say, their mothers were growing up. Too bad. I say what I say, and I do what I do. I’m me,” she said.

Those who knew her best said that her kindness was one of the best things about her.

“She never gave up and she was good to everyone,” her father, Don Pedro Rivera, said. “Remember her with your heart the way she was. She never looked back. She was a beautiful person with the whole world.”

It was announced earlier this week that Rivera’s estate has filed a lawsuit against Starwood Management Inc., the company that owned the jet which crashed and killed Rivera, her makeup artist, attorney, stylist, and publicist, as well as one of the pilots. The lawsuit claims that Starwood was guilty of negligence that ultimately led to the star’s death.