First things first — if you love NYC, fashion, journalism, writing, social media, powerful women, and a plot that tackles more political statements than most politicians? Then “The Bold Type” is the show for you.
The show follows three 25-year-old friends as they’re navigating their careers and love lives in the New York publishing world. It’s a show about women being brave, finding their voices and showing up for one another.
I originally took to this show because I, too, am an aspiring journalist, who just like everyone else would love to work in New York and write for an empowering magazine. Jane Sloan, writer and lead on “The Bold Type,” is seriously living out my journalism dreams. But even though I started watching it for that reason, I stuck with it because of all of the complex, hard-to-talk-about topics that it covers — we’re talking everything from sexual exploration and faking orgasms to immigration reform and racism. It’s an empowering, uplifting, tear-jerker of a show, for sure and is incredibly well-written.
The writer’s have done a phenomenal job on making the relationships in the show realistic. I’ve gotten so hooked on the complex female friendships that it just makes me think of how grateful I am for the women in my life.
Beyond the three BFF leads on the show, you’re introduced to editor-in-chief Jacqueline Carlyle. She could shut any person down with just an eyebrow raise, she’s so intimidating yet she’s incredibly powerful. Her fashion sense is impeccable, and she carries herself with a no nonsense manner and she pushes her employees to be the best that they can be — because she refuses to settle for less.
Jacqueline has some pretty wise and phenomenal lines on the show, and hits home in terms of why I decided to be a journalism major.
There’s a speech in the first season that stuck with me. Jacqueline stood up at a press release party for a magazine called Scarlet and she said “a few years ago, I read an application of a young intern, and her words have always stayed with me. When asked why she wanted to work at Scarlet she said, ‘because when I needed it, Scarlet was like the older sister that I’d always wished I’d had. No matter how many years pass, no matter how the world, changes Scarlet will always be that older sister. And we will always be there for the girls who need her.’” That right there is such a driving force as to why I’ve chosen journalism and why I write.
Later on in the speech Jacqueline addressed the men and women who work their by saying “I expect you to have adventures. I expect you to fall in love, to get your hearts broken. I expect you to have sex with the wrong people, to have sex with the right people, to make amends, take a leap, and make a splash. And I expect you to unleash holy hell on anybody who tries to hold you back, because you don’t just work for Scarlet. You are Scarlet.”
You can watch “The Bold Type” on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on Freeform and on Hulu. I can’t recommend this show enough if you need a reminder that life happens, but you can stay confident and grow from any challenge thrown your way.