Let's get real: If you're Black or a woman, you know you won't always be taken as seriously as you deserve. And being plus-sized in a society obsessed with thinness is no picnic either. No one understands this better than Bria Samoné Henderson. "Being in this industry and being a plus-size, dark-skinned Black woman in this industry is tricky. ... And there's a certain way you have to navigate it," she explained. One demoralizing challenge is that most roles available to women who look like Henderson are reductive and unflattering. "It's like, oh, you're the fat funny best friend or you're the fat person who's very insecure about her size or you're not the love interest," she said.

So when the role of Dr. Jordan Allen became available, Henderson was eager to audition for it. "I just remember getting the breakdown last year, the character breakdown, and just reading that she was a full-figured woman, and she was also very confident and fashionable and a hustler and an entrepreneur. And it just reminded me so much of me," she said.