This weekend I didn't move very much. I caught an unfortunate cold that mad my eyes well up every five seconds so I really just needed some rest. Luckily, I had some entertainment to keep me occupied. The Netflix Original series, GIRLBOSS, could not have been released at a more convenient time. For the last two days I've devoted my life to a Netflix binge session concerning Sophia Amoruso and her early pre-Nasty Gal days.
Before her job was to run a multi-million dollar company, Sophia embraced her reckless, selfish lifestyle. The lyrics to Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" can perfectly describe her character at 22. Actress Britt Robertson embodies Sophia's spunky and straightforward attitude right from scene one, where her car breaks down on a hill and she flips off a street car that won't "just go around her". Accompanying Sophia's fierce presence is a retro 70s vibe that ultimately defines her successful eBay company, Nasty Gal Vintage, but the process to make a living by selling clothes is an emotional journey.
The show captures the early 2000s by recreating eBay chat forums and imitating AOL messenger which were pivotal means of communication for that time period. Sophia uses her tiny Blackberry to hand deliver clothing to clients in the beginning and relies on MySpace to grow her consumer base. At one point she has over 60,000 friends. Her single eBay page quickly developed into the start of what would later be called e-commerce before it even existed.
I've read a lot of articles and reviews about this show. Major news websites are not huge fans. I'm not saying this show is a bubble-gum version of how to start a business-it's definitely a rough ride. Sophia is a self-proclaimed "asshole" and she is not very nice. The reason why I enjoyed this show is not because she was sweet or nice-it was because she was way more than those superficial labels that most women are called. Sophia was the most persistent and driven character I've watched on a television show in a long time. And the fact that she was a female boss before 2017 when 21 companies currently have female CEOs is inspiring. She stands up for herself to everyone who doubts her-even her family and her friends who tell her to pack it up and move on. Sophia is a "you don't have to like me", but you can respect me for how hard I am working at building my brand individual. She didn't need to change anything about her personality in order to succeed, and that is a defining hashtag girl boss move.
