50 fearless, confident, all around badass women on television
By Sundi Rose
Photo: Hulu
Mindy Lahiri – The Mindy Project
Mindy Kaling’s alterego, Mindy Lahiri, is a very, very modern incarnation of the precedent that Murphy Brown set decades before her. Unlike Murphy, Mindy struggled to balance her personal life with her professional, but like Murphy, she never made any apologies for her choices.
Mindy made disastrous romantic choices, excelled at her job, and ate carbs, all the sporting the one of the fiercest wardrobes since Carrie Bradshaw. Mindy made being a mess chic, and woman every where exhaled a sigh of relief to see this woman living a life that looked a lot like theirs. A messy apartment, a tragically awkward social game, and an “unconventional” figure, Mindy had to fight stereotype after stereotype to be taken seriously.
She fought against gender norms when her baby’s father wanted her to stay home after the birth of their child. She bucked professional traditions by moving away to do an exclusive fellowship. She’s dated men of all shapes, sizes and sorts, and she’s always funny, sexy, and incredibly accomplished while she’s doing it. She even pulled off a pixie cute. She’s fierce, y’all.