'THE BOLD TYPE’S' AISHA DEE ON THE SHOW’S 3RD SEASON, PLAYING KAT EDISON, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND HER MUSIC

WORDS BY IRVIN RIVERA

Australian actress and singer Aisha Dee (Aisha is pronounced like Asia, the continent, or like Rosacea) is a big ball of positive energy and soul.  

She currently plays Kat Edison in the Freeform, comedy-drama series, The Bold Type. In the show, Dee’s character plays the social media director in the fictional fashion magazine Scarlet. Kat’s character is an open, woke millennial, who continuously evolve and discover herself throughout the show. She ran the city council election in New York, she explored her sexuality and ethnic identity, and she is one of the most magnetic characters that tie the show together.  

In this exclusive interview, Aisha Dee talks about her character Kat Edison’s evolution this season, her relationship with Adena,social media, communication, playing Kat Edison in The Bold Type, working with her castmates, her recent EP music release (Ice in my Rosé), and the last book she read, Queenie.

PHOTOGRAPHER: IRVIN RIVERA

How does your social media platform help you in your acting and your life in general?

Honestly, I’ve always struggled with my social media presence. I tend to be on social media for a few weeks and then I delete the app and then I’m not on there for a month. I’m still struggling in finding a balance but I think it is a really cool way to engage with people in the world and share things that you usually wouldn’t be able to share. And also, I love pictures so I share my photography in there.

MAKEUP: FRANCIE TOMALONIS, HAIR: CAITLIN KRENZ, RETOUCHING: SEBATIAN CERULLI

There’s a lot of pretty photos there.

Thank you !

What do you love the most about it? (social media)

I love that it can be a really supportive and beautiful place when people lift each other up and I hate when people are bullies on social media. I mean it’s a basic answer but it’s true. I also hate my personality when I try to think of a caption. I turn into this basic bitch whenever I am trying to think of a caption

Communication is one of the biggest themes of The Bold Type. How do you think the characters can improves the ways they communicate with each other?

There’s always a space to lean when it comes to communication. I honestly feel like we’re kind of the first generation to even explore that as an option. Whereas in the past, it’s “don’t  talk about your feelings.  it’s embarrassing.” “don’t talk about the fact that you’re in therapy cause people might judge you for it.” You know. Now, me and all of my friends, we’re all telling each other the wisdom our therapists told us.  I think there’s always ways to improve. And it’s also kind of an individual thing depending on the relationship.

Now let’s talk about your character Kat. Kat’s character stands for a lot of very timely issues today- race, discovering and embracing one’s ethnic background, bi-sexualism, exploring your sexuality, open relationships, handling social media and being a successful millennial in a big city like New York. How do you handle that? How do you get into her character?

I mean it’s pretty easy because that’s all of the stuff that we’re dealing with. No matter what your background is, or where you’ve come from, there’s always a level of discovery to what you do. Honestly the biggest thing is that I try to look at her story from her perspective but also to the perspective of the other people around her who are also experiencing similar things and who are also on the other side of it. I also talk to my friends a lot. Whenever I have questions about storylines, I text my friends who I know have gone to similar things. And people always have great, insightful things to share. I think one of the reasons why the show is so great is because all of the storylines are so relatable. You can find yourself in at least one of them.

How did you think the election result from last season affected Kat? Will it be explored more this season

Yes it will be explored more. I think it was one of those things that in the lead up to it, she wasn’t actually thinking of the outcome. She was just thinking of the day to day. And when it got really close, I think a lot of people feel this fear of success and fear of failure. And when you get close to the end of the journey, all of those feelings come up and that’s what happened for Kat and she got cold feet. Eventually she found her way. And now after losing the election, I think it’s gonna be about her figuring out how to use that failure as something that motivates her to be better. I think it’s important to see that cause your trajectory as a person in life is often seen as steps up and sometimes you fail upwards.

How will the new season explore Kat and Adena’s relationship?

We’re gonna get to see them work in the magazine together. She got hired in the magazine. I’m super excited for her to come back and for people to see how that relationship evolved. We’re gonna get to see a little bit ore of where Adena is coming from and her background. And we’re gonna see where she comes from and we’re gonna get to see the girls reconnect in a way that is different from the first time that they met. It’s nice to see them both grow up a little bit.

It’s amazing. I’ve fallen for them as well as an audience. What they had was so beautiful.

Me too! I just want them to be happy. I just want them to be on an island some place. They’re both drinking sparkling water- because Kat is not drinking anymore. They’re both chilling on an island together. There’s no drama, they’re married, they have little babies running around. I want a happy ending for them. But I think it’s really important to tell a story that feels real and relatable cause no relationship is easy. Intimacy is very hard. The only long successful relationship that I’ve ever had is with Katie Stevens and Meghan Fahy. It’s like the closest thing to a really long, open, good communication relationship. It’s been like four years. We’re all gonna have a wedding. The three of us.

 What are you looking forward to the most in the new decade.

I’ve been working on music stuff. That’s really scary and weird and intimidating. I just released it today on soundcloud. I was just like fuck it and I just did it .

Did you have a different music name?

I used to. I used to do it under a different name cause I was too shy to tell anyone that I did music.

What was the name?

Dee Dee and the Beagles.

That’s cute.

But that stuff was really different from the stuff  I’m doing now and I’ve just been writing for so long not sharing it.

A couple of weeks ago, I was home, in Australia, and the sky was orange and there was smoke everywhere, and we couldn’t go outside and all my favorite places that I grew up going were gone. That was absolutely heartbreaking. I was not in a good place emotionally and it still affects me now. But listening to music calms me down. Everytime I would get a wave of anxiety, I will just put on music and I will feel better. And my little sister would play piano for me and that would calm me down too. So I was like, wow music is this free form of therapy for me. So I might as well just release mine if it helps two people.

It does. Music touches people in a lot of ways.

And yeah, if a hundred people hate it and two people are like, it stopped me from having a panic attack, then cool. It’s just a thing I like to do.

If you were a book, what book would you be and why?

That is a terrifying question. This isn’t exactly something that encapsulates who I am but it is the last book that I’ve read that I really identified with. Everything about it was just like she’s pulling from my soul. It’s this book called Queenie. by Candice Carty-Williams. I read it a while ago. It’s a young adult fiction about a black girl growing up as an adult in London. The book is incredible. I drafted an instagram Dm to this author for like 3 times but I didn’t send it. Queenie is the best!