Singer Cheryl Cole says she can relate to today`s youth and wants to show disadvantaged kids that they can follow their dreams and escape their surroundings.

"I had a tough upbringing and didn`t have many privileges as a child. I classed that as normal because it was all I`d ever known. I know what disadvantaged young people go through. I understand it. I get it," a website has quoted Cole as saying.

The 29-year-old Cole thinks she is a positive role model for teenagers because she fought the odds to make a success of her singing career, and now wants to encourage young people to stay in school and develop their passions.

"A lot of young people don`t have focus and they don`t know what they are going to do with their lives. If I hadn`t had a dream, I could have gone off the rails and I could have had a very, very different life."

"I had a horrible time as a teenager and wasn`t very confident. Between the ages of 16 and 18, I was also in a horrible relationship. If I hadn`t had a love for music, I could have gone down a different path and become lost," she said.