Miami Living Magazine features the best Miami has to offer. Click on any magazine below and enjoy. You can download our free app on iTunes. Ideal for iPad and iPhone users.
Issue link: https://digital.miamilivingmagazine.com/i/992510
"Just wait, I'm sure I'll have a sexy rasp in the finale," says Katie Stevens. She's just getting over being under the weather, she mentions, while discussing the struggle of shooting the Season 2 finale of Freeform's The Bold Type, loosely based on the life of former Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Joanna Coles. The comedy-drama series centers around three friends –Jane (Katie Stevens), Kat (Aisha Dee), and Sutton (Meghann Fahy)– living in New York City, who all work for global women's magazine, Scarlet. They're all dealing with their own struggles, which include exploring their sexuality, identity, love, and fashion. Katie's character, Jane, has just accepted a job with another magazine, Insight, and that's where we find her at the beginning of Season 2. "If you know Jane, you know she enjoys wearing her frilly tops and skirts. And walking into Insight for the first time really throws her. She notices they're all in sweatshirts and converse. This season, she'll really see how good she had it at Scarlet. And we really wanted her to fail a little. While talking to the writers, it was super important for her character development, since she's such a perfectionist." This season, Jane will experience some of her own setbacks, which will be reflected in her appearance. "The show is still very fashion-centric, she'll still turn up. But her failures will be reflected in her style, hair, makeup. You'll also get to see her delve into the important aspect of creating stories and real journalism too, which is very exciting." And what about Ryan (AKA Pinstripe), Jane's on-again, off-again relationship and writer at Pinstripe? "Well Jane is dating another guy this season, someone she meets from a co-worker at Insight. But Pinstripe does come back and you get to see them cultivate a friendship. And they just have so much chemistry… so who knows what can happen." But before The Bold Type, Katie appeared on American Idol. "I'd grown up singing and acting my whole life. In Connecticut, I was always in small theater projects. I was busing tables and my mom actually approached me with the idea of taking off of work to go to an audition in Boston. I'd only ever performed in front of 200 people max… The entire experience was out of body and most of the people auditioning with me were 10 years older." Katie ended up finishing in eighth place —not too shabby for a 16-year-old. From there, she moved to Los Angeles and secured an agent. "After the show was really a discovery period for me. Who am I? What am I going to do with my life? I didn't even know where to get started. And most of us get agents, so that's what I did." Katie began taking acting classes and casting workshops, and maintained a job at Sprinkles Cupcakes for 10 months to earn extra cash. "I started to learn that crazy dreams are actually possible. Obstacles are going to present themselves and it's up to me how I handle those things. When someone closes a door, I'm going to find a window." Landing the role of Karma Ashcroft on the hit MTV series, Faking It, would be the window she had been searching for. "I'd been told no for almost four years, but then I walked into a casting call for MTV's Faking It." The MTV series centered around two best friends in high school, Karma and Amy (Rita Volk), who end up faking they're in a lesbian relationship with each before realizing there are real feelings there. As that series came to a close, the opportunity to play Jane arose quickly once Katie met with the women of Freeform. "I just love how collaborative the show is and what it stands for —the feminist movement, it's political, and there are just really great friendships. I have a Type A personality, much like Jane. The other girls will tell you, I am the mom of the group. I'm a nurturer and a planner. I do think that Jane has this need to be accepted by everyone, she spins out a little more than me," she laughs. "Much like her, it is a struggle, especially in this industry to let go of that. It's something you actively have to work on." Katie is actively working on this in her personal life as well. "Being a Type A myself, I don't believe in the idea of perfectionism. Being in this field, it's easy to be in that mindset all of the time and it's difficult. As humans, we're all always struggling to never question ourselves. And confidence is something that I'm always actively working on… It takes a team and we all struggle to be confident," Katie says about being an actor. "I've heard so many reasons why someone doesn't get a role: too ugly, too pretty, too tall, too short. But people are turned away from roles all of the time. That's something that has helped me and I'm less sensitive because of that. And what I've learned from chemistry reads with other people is that it has nothing to do with talent. It's just who fits it the best." On the topic of the best fit, Katie recently became engaged to boyfriend, now fiancé, Paul DiGiovanni, lead guitarist of the band Boys Like Girls. "You know, growing up, I romanticized everything. I don't think I'd be in the career I'm in if I didn't. But I remember thinking how cool it would be to find my person. I was the person to think, Could I be in the same room as my future husband right now? And I went to see Boys Like Girls when I was 14. Little did I know, I actually was in the same room with my future husband all the way back then." ML The Bold Type Season 2 premieres on Freeform June 12th at 8 pm. Keep up with Katie Stevens on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook: @TheKatieStevens