February 18, 2021 • bachelor insider
Tayshia Adams on the Importance of Representation and What It Meant to Be the Bachelorette
On the latest episode of “Click Bait with Bachelor Nation,” Tayshia Adams reflected on her time leading Season 16 of “The Bachelorette.”
She opened up to co-hosts Joe Amabile and Natasha Parker about her groundbreaking turn as the first biracial woman to front the series and the importance of representation for people of color within Bachelor Nation.
“If I can be that one person that someone can identify with on the show that they’ve never really been able to identify with before, that means a lot to me,” said Tayshia, whose father is Black and mother is Mexican. “We’re making waves, slowly but surely.”
Asked by Joe how it feels to be a beacon of hope for BIPOC viewers, the stunning California native explained that she cherishes the responsibility even if it makes her emotional at times.
“I cry a lot,” she said. “I remember being on the show, and I think I’ve said this before, but I used to get a lot of DMs of people — [from] mixed girls in particular — saying, ‘I haven’t seen someone of my race be in a role like you or on TV that I could actually relate to.’ It means a lot to me.”
During last week’s episode of “Click Bait,” Tayshia thanked Season 13 Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay — who made history as the first Black person to lead the franchise in 2017 — for paving the way before she took on the same role in 2020.
“I am where I am [and] my experiences were my experiences because of her. My ‘Bachelorette’ experience was 10 times better than Rachel’s because she was the trailblazer as being the first Black Bachelorette,” Tayshia said of the pioneering TV personality. “Also, I had way more resources than she did, and none of that would have been possible if she wasn’t the Bachelorette before and hadn’t had such a loud voice.”
See what else Tayshia had to say in the video below — and don’t forget to subscribe to “Click Bait with Bachelor Nation” on Apple Podcasts.
