Voices Of The Year

GIRLS DIDN’T HOLD BACK IN 2018.

We know you’ve all been making noise about the things that matter to you. Listen up as these six powerful voices reflect on their experiences—and take their best advice for continuing to make yourself heard.

- Kerensa Cadenas

LANA CONDOR

When a book about an Asian American teen is turned into a movie, it’s hard to believe there’d be any question about the race of the actress who would play the lead. And yet the author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han, had to fight for Lana Condor to be cast as Lara Jean Song Covey. The actress, 21, knows how big an impact visibility can have on girls who often don’t see themselves in major roles, and she’s taking full advantage of the spotlight.

Spreading the Love

If I’m gonna do a movie that shows a sweet girl who is kind and friendly and marches to the beat of her own drum, it only makes sense for me to want to live up to that. I feel like I have a responsibility to be a role model and also to promote goodness. I want girls to feel represented and that they can have someone to look up to. I think of my younger cousins—I use them as my gauge of how I want people to see me. I created a scholarship in Vietnam with The Asia Foundation that I’m using to put girls through school, and I want to promote that and keep it going.

Staying Real

It’s been a wonderful year and everything that happened has been great, but it’s also been very different for me. I feel like I value the relationships I had before this year even more than ever. I’ve learned to keep friends and family close and celebrate them—they are actually in your life because they like you as a person and not because of what they can get from you.

Self-Reflection

I was so emotional watching Crazy Rich Asians. When I got out, I felt every single emotion and was bawling. I realized it was because it’s taken too long to see ourselves on-screen. Now that it’s happened, it’s really exciting, and it makes me viciously aggressive to make sure this keeps happening.