“The Bold Type” was Freeform’s new show of summer 2017. It was daring, ground-breaking, and true to its title: bold.
The show centered around three women in their mid-twenties working at Scarlet Magazine. Kat, the passionate one… Jane, the over-thinker… and Sutton, the fashionista. If you have ever been interested in working in New York, editing or writing for a magazine, or breaking into the fashion world, then “The Bold Type” suits you. And if you’ve never been afraid to speak your mind, know your worth or show your true self, than it defines you.
I am someone who wants to work in fashion. I want to write, edit, manage, market, or do whatever falls into my lap in the industry. I want to make it big. And for a short while, I lost sight of the confidence I needed to believe that I could. I was good at hiding it and for a year I was in a confusing and unhappy place. But, sometimes a rut is just that— a rut. You need something big to take you out of it and make you believe again.
“The Bold Type” did just that for me. I knew I was going to be a fan from the coming attractions, because the show was going to be centered around my dream job. But what I did not know was that it would restore all the confidence I needed to be a powerful and successful woman without having to lose myself in the process. This show reminded me that intelligence and drive are necessary for survival.
I was also able to realize my mistakes by watching “The Bold Type”. If you knew me in high school, you know that I was a confident and independent teenager with no reason for apologies and I had enough resistance towards anyone who told me I was wrong to stop an army. In college, throughout the internal battle that most people face at eighteen of “what am I capable of?” and “how do I get there?”, I became less of who I was in the past. I would catch myself sometimes apologizing for asking a question and have been told more than once that I am “too nice”. Now, I like to be nice. I am a kind and compassionate human. Being nice is not a bad thing, but being overly so to compensate for other problems and being less self-aware can cause one to straddle the line between “nice” and “pushover”. And I was not going to fall the other way.
Jane, Kat, and Sutton taught me how to be me again. That may seem contradictory, but it’s true. I know exactly what I want and I am more than capable of getting it. I have the skills, the drive, and the confidence to reach my full potential and then some. And to those who have told me in the past few years that I am “too nice”, “awkward” to be “realistic”, or who have laughed at me for any reason, understand one thing: I am not letting you or anyone else stand in my way. Your words did not hurt me, nor are they going to stop me. You don’t know me, or what I am. I am strong. I am talented. I’m worth just as much as you. I am powerful. I have passion and the capabilities of doing more than anyone can imagine. I also want to thank those who have tried to make me feel less than I am or who have kept me in a box, because, if anything, you have fueled my fire once again. And I’m red hot now.
I am happy to be where I am and on the path to my dream. I am dynamic— a force to be reckoned with. I have clear picture of where I want to go and a plan of how to get there. I am seventeen again with a strong personality and a big will to take on the world. I am twenty with a new decade ahead and so many possibilities and an endless need for adventure and a passion for making things happen.
I’m Kat. Jane. Sutton. Olivia.
I am the bold type.