The 26-year-old rapper worked in a strip club prior to becoming one of the world's most recognisable music stars, and Cardi has confessed to enjoying the job, insisting she doesn't have any regrets about it.
During a visit to the Satin Dolls strip club in Manhattan, she shared: "A lot of the women here they taught me to be more powerful. I did gain, like, a passion and love to performing. It made me feel pretty."
Asked whether the experience made her feel powerful, Cardi told CBS: "Yes. I'm glad for this chapter in my life.
"A lot of people always want to make fun of me, like, 'Oh, you used to be a stripper.' I don't ever regret it. I don't ever regret it."
The 'Bodak Yellow' hitmaker claimed the experience of working as a stripper meant she became more mature.
She said: "I learned a lot. And I feel like it matured me.
"My biggest ambition was money. Because that's what these women put in my head: 'Nothing is important but the money.'"
However, since becoming an internationally famous star, Cardi feels as though attitudes towards her have changed.
And the New York-born star admitted she cannot understand why people are now so eager to criticise her.
She explained: "When I was, like, a nothing, everybody was rooting. And now that I'm finally here, people have a problem for it. Like, I feel like I work so hard, why do people feel like I don't deserve it?"
Asked whether she tells herself to ignore the criticism, Cardi added: "I do snap out of it. And I do ignore it. It's just like, it drives you insane!"