• Intelligencer
  • The Cut
  • Vulture
  • The Strategist
  • Curbed
  • Grub Street
  • Subscribe to the Magazine Give a Gift Subscription Buy Back Issues Current Issue Contents
    Subscribe to New York Magazine
  • Subscribe
  • Profile
    Sign Out
Subscribe Give A Gift
  • Style
  • Self
  • Culture
  • Power
  • Style
  • Fashion
  • Black Beauty Matters
  • Parties & Red Carpet
  • Fashion Shows
  • Cathy Horyn
  • The Cut Shop
  • Self
  • Health & Wellness
  • The State of the Uterus
  • Parenting
  • Advice
  • Sex & Relationships
  • Horoscopes
  • Culture
  • Books
  • Television
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Celebrity
  • Power
  • Politics
  • Work
  • Money
  • Rebecca Traister
  • Latest Stories
  • Video
  • About Us
  • NYMag.com
  • New York Magazine
  • Intelligencer
  • Vulture
  • The Cut
  • The Strategist
  • Grub Street
  • Curbed
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Pin It
+Comments Leave a Comment
  • Style
  • Fashion
  • Black Beauty Matters
  • Parties & Red Carpet
  • Fashion Shows
  • Cathy Horyn
  • The Cut Shop
  • Self
  • Health & Wellness
  • The State of the Uterus
  • Parenting
  • Advice
  • Sex & Relationships
  • Horoscopes
  • Culture
  • Books
  • Television
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Celebrity
  • Power
  • Politics
  • Work
  • Money
  • Rebecca Traister
  • Latest Stories
  • Video
  • About Us
  • NYMag.com
  • New York Magazine
  • Intelligencer
  • Vulture
  • The Cut
  • The Strategist
  • Grub Street
  • Curbed
Advertiser Content from
This advertising content was produced in collaboration between Vox Creative and our sponsor, without involvement from Vox Media editorial staff.
Sponsored

How Reality TV Trailblazer Rachel Lindsay Lives Life On Her Own Terms

June 24, 2021

How Reality TV Trailblazer Rachel Lindsay Lives Life On Her Own Terms

With no-contract phones and plans, Straight Talk Wireless

empowers customers to live life on their own terms. This is the second episode in a three-part series on trailblazers who live life on their own terms every day.

When Rachel Lindsay was working as a lawyer in Dallas, Texas, becoming a reality TV star was not in her five-year plan. “You know when people used to ask me, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years? What’s your goal, in ten years?’ I used to be able to answer that question, probably cause I was living under a contract. I had a set plan,” Lindsay reflects. That plan changed when her coworkers encouraged Lindsay to attend the auditions for The Bachelor that were happening down the street from their firm.

“I remember laughing and my first thought was, why would I ever go on this show? And then the second thing I thought was, everybody knows Black people don’t go far on the show,” Lindsay recalls. “And they said, ‘No, Rachel, if you do this show, you’ll go far.’” The show’s producers agreed, and invited Lindsay to join the show’s 21st season.

“It was an amazing experience,” she says of her time on the show, “It taught me so much about myself and about what I wanted for myself.”

After becoming a fan favorite as a cast member, Lindsay initially declined the invitation to become the franchise’s first Black Bachelorette. “This was off the beaten path. [My parents] didn’t send their daughter to law school to become a reality TV star,” says Lindsay. But one conversation helped change her mind. “I was actually having a conversation with someone, a mother, and she was like, ‘I’m so happy that someone like you is on the show. My young daughter, who’s a fan of the show, can watch this and be inspired and see someone who looks like her.’”

It was then that Lindsay began to understand the power her voice could bring to the show. “I just thought, this is bigger than me. And I have an opportunity to represent myself, as a Black woman, to an audience who hasn’t seen someone who looks like me in this role. I could possibly be a trailblazer and pave the way for so many other people to have this opportunity, to get this chance, to have their fairy tale ending,” she says.

Not only did Lindsay find her fairy tale ending with her now-husband Bryan Abasolo, she has now also expanded her platform with Higher Learning, the podcast about Black culture, politics, and sports that she co-hosts with media personality Van Lathan. “When May [2020] hit and I was watching what was happening to our country in regards to how it was affecting the Black community, I was in a state of depression,” Lindsay remembers. “I really only left my house to protest and then come back. And it was the podcast actually that lifted me out of it because I had an outlet to express what I was feeling. And then I realized other people needed that too.”

For Lindsay, living life on her own terms isn’t just about taking chances and forging her own path, it’s also about uplifting her community. “I want to do the things that make a difference. I want to continue to represent Black women. I want to continue to represent women. I want to continue to represent the Black community. I want to continue to represent myself. I live life on my own terms by doing what I want to do.”

Life On Your Own Terms

Ready to find out what happens when you live life on your own terms? Straight Talk Wireless offers the latest phones and no-contract plans with unlimited talk​, text, and data on the nation’s largest, most dependable 4G LTE networks. Find out more here.

This advertising content was produced in collaboration between Vox Creative and our sponsor, without involvement from Vox Media editorial staff.

Tags:

  • advertiser content
  • new york stories
  • technology
  • straight talk wireless
  • custom video
  • rachel lindsay
  • life on your own terms
  • More
+Comments Leave a Comment
How Rachel Lindsay Forged Her Own Path

Most Viewed Stories

  1. My Mom Has No Friends
  2. Anne Heche Has Died at 53
  3. A Murder Solved in DMs
  4. Oscar Isaac Is Still Struggling to Explain That Red-Carpet PDA
  5. The $6 Brow Product That Changed My Eyebrows
  1. My Mom Has No Friends
  2. A Murder Solved in DMs
  3. How an Aspiring ‘It’ Girl Tricked New York’s Party People — and Its Banks
  4. Why Did These YouTubers Give Away Their Son?
  5. My Tinder Decade

Best of The Cut

  • An Encyclopedia of Celebrity Beauty Brands
  • My Mom Has No Friends
  • Would You Work in an Amazon Warehouse Just to Get Pregnant?
  • Bad Sex
  • Is This the Abortion Clinic of the Future?
See All

The Latest

shopping Yesterday at 4:27 p.m.
The $6 Brow Product That Changed My Eyebrows It took me almost a decade to find the perfect brow product.
obits Yesterday at 3:04 p.m.
Anne Heche Has Died at 53 The actor suffered severe injuries after a car crash in L.A. earlier this month.
fashion Yesterday at 3:00 p.m.
Julia Fox Is Back! And she is giving us the latex looks we’ve been so thirsty for.
feminism Yesterday at 2:05 p.m.
Who Actually Lost the Sex Wars? And were there any winners? A conversation with Christine Emba, Nona Willis-Aronowitz, and Lorna Bracewell.
friday sales Yesterday at 1:49 p.m.
19 Things on Sale You’ll Actually Want to Buy: From Ninja to Isabel Marant Including the most effective foot peel and some Chuck 70’s for just $35.
i'd buy that Yesterday at 1:37 p.m.
Drop Everything, Joan Didion’s Estate Sale Is Coming How much would you pay for a mohair throw that once graced her couch?
do i need this? Yesterday at 1:28 p.m.
Do I Need Lori Harvey’s Gym Outfit? I couldn’t get with Pilates, but this I can do.
breakups Yesterday at 12:35 p.m.
Michelle Branch Announces Her Separation From Black Keys’ Patrick Carney Branch was arrested for misdemeanor domestic assault shortly after the announcement.
selling sunset Yesterday at 11:35 a.m.
Looks Like Jason Oppenheim Has Also Moved On Surprise: His new girlfriend isn’t an O Group agent.
celebrity Yesterday at 11:15 a.m.
Kim Kardashian Bravely Takes Shot On-Camera Behold, the face of someone who’s made a huge mistake.
extremely online Yesterday at 11:09 a.m.
I Can’t Shut Up About This Photo of Austin Butler’s Girlfriends Vanessa Hudgens and Kaia Gerber met each other long before they both dated Butler.
5 questions with... Yesterday at 11:09 a.m.
Chanté Adams Is Redefining A League of Their Own The star hits a home run in Prime Video’s new series.
parties! Yesterday at 10:46 a.m.
Beyoncé, Remi Bader, and More of the Bestest Party Pics This Week Celebrating the release of Renaissance, the launch of the Remi x Revolve collab, and more.
seeing someone Yesterday at 8:00 a.m.
Help! Both Women I’m Seeing Want to Be Instagram Official You don’t have to “launch” a relationship if you don’t want to.
By Randa Sakallah
style Aug. 11, 2022
Hey Fashion Friend: How Do I Wear Fashion Cargo Pants? We provide you with 15 non-ironic pairs to go with your tiny shirts.
anne heche Aug. 11, 2022
Anne Heche in a Coma, Under DUI Investigation, Following Car Crash According to a representative, she has remained in a coma since shortly after the accident.
ugh why Aug. 11, 2022
Britney’s Lawyer Has Some Words for Kevin Federline “Britney Spears is a brilliantly talented, extremely hardworking icon … The same, unfortunately, cannot be said about Mr. Federline.”
sigh Aug. 11, 2022
Male Actor Doesn’t See the Point of Intimacy Coordinators Emma Thompson and Kumail Nanjiani disagree.
5 questions with... Aug. 11, 2022
Gugu Mbatha-Raw Takes on the Neo-Noir In Surface, she plays an amnesiac trying to uncover her truth.
wtf Aug. 11, 2022
Watch Kathy Hilton Learn Lizzo Is Not Gabourey Sidibe It’s as cringe as it sounds.
More Stories
  • Style
  • Self
  • Culture
  • Power
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Help
  • We’re Hiring
  • Press
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Ad Choices
  • Do Not Sell My Info
  • Accessibility
The Cut is a Vox Media Network. © 2022 Vox Media, LLC. All rights reserved.