Rachel Lindsay

I freelance as a sports broadcaster.

I learned it is important to be confident in what you have and drown out all of the outside noise. You can't be distracted by what everyone else is doing and how they are doing it.

I am truly a person who believes in energy and vibes.

I love a man that's in touch with his feelings. Now, I don't need you to cry more than you talk, but I love that if you're feeling something you just go with it.

I have a big personality, and people feed off that.

I'm so humbled and honored to be chosen to represent myself as a black woman to America, and I look at it as such a positive. That's what made me move forward and want to embrace being the first black Bachelorette.

To be the first to do something is huge - all eyes are on you. You just don't know how people are going to judge you.

The Bachelor is in charge of saying what they're interested in and what they're not. Some people don't know that - they do ask you.

I think it is fair to say that I was denied my on-camera happy ending.

The 'Bachelor' franchise does believe in happy endings - some people get an on-camera happy ending, some people get on off-camera happy ending, and some people get both.

I'm in this thing, you know. I'm 'Bachelor' Nation, I'm a part of the franchise.

I'm looking for a guy who can make me laugh, who knows exactly what he wants, who's ambitious, ready to start a family, ready to get married.

I'm a sucker for a great smile.

You have to know what you want and focus on that.

I majored in sports management, and then I went to law school for sports law.

So my go-tos are bodysuits, crop tops, I like to wear a cute little crop top, but then maybe a jazzy pant. I wear a lot of pants.

My social media, I think I had 700 followers before, now it's like 800,000.

When I was approached to be the 'Bachelorette,' I was like, 'Uh, no. I don't think I can do this again.' It was conversations that I had with people that said, 'I'm so happy to see a Black woman represented well in a franchise, or 'I'm watching this show again because you did it,' that renewed my wanting to be part of this franchise.

I've learned that I'm a much more traditional bride than I like to admit. Even from the invitations by Ceci New York with the script font. My dress is very traditional, even though it's a little risque.

I started off as a prosecutor and I would be sitting there, waiting for the defense attorney to come, and they would either bypass me because they would assume that I'm not the attorney or they would assume that I was the legal secretary or a paralegal - never the attorney.

I don't want to critique an apology. An apology is an apology.

I had seen my dad overcome and work hard for the things that he has, and I hear the stories about the injustices that he faced.

I mean, I'm an eye-roller by nature.

You know, I really don't have a specific race that I go towards or that I typically date.

I'm real and honest, and I take things day by day. That's just the way to survive.

I use the petroleum jelly on my lips because they get very dry and it's truly the only thing that works.

I'm looking for extraordinary. I'm looking for a man who I see and it makes me melt.

I'm looking for the man I cannot imagine a day without him being in my life.

I spent much of my adult life focusing on my career and I take pride in my achievements in my field.

Any date that requires you to don a plastic poncho while inside an establishment with a liquor license is going to be incredible.

My friends mean everything to me, so if you want to me be my lover then you have to get along with my friends!

I kind of consider myself a tomboy.

I like when a guy wears ripped jeans, has a loose-fitting V-neck top and has a pair of kicks. You can't go wrong with a suit either.

I'm obviously nervous and excited to take on this opportunity but I don't feel added pressure being the first black Bachelorette, because to me I'm just a black woman trying to find love. Yes, I'm doing on this huge stage, but again my journey of love isn't any different just because my skin color is.

I'm happy to represent myself as a black woman in front of America and I'm happy for America to rally behind me and see what it's like for me to be on this journey to find love. Honestly, it's not going to be that different from any other season of 'The Bachelorette.'

I just wear like a powder, like a Bare Minerals, maybe some Nars, like a bronzer or blush, light gloss for my lips. That's pretty much it. Mascara.

I don't shop a whole lot. But when I shop, I shop!

I need to be able to cook for my kids.

Some people can't handle that I'm direct.

I'm very excited to be partnering with Vaseline because I've been a fan for years. It's products I grew up with - my mom always used them on us - and now, I use it all, from the petroleum jelly to the lip gloss and lotion.

I am a proud, not Texan, but a citizen of Dallas.

I love Dallas.

Family's big to me.

My sister is married to a white guy, so it's nothing new for our family.

Up until I was 30 I really didn't date seriously outside of my race because I felt like society - not my parents, not my friends - society was telling me I had to pick a Black man.

I'm a Black woman and I've always been told that I wasn't Black enough because of the way that I grew up, the experiences that I had.

I'm a huge Russell Westbrook fan. I pretend I know him, I call him Rusty. But I love his style and someone who steps out out of the box and is bold and that's him.

I run away from the one who is good on paper - the one who has it all together - and I run toward the one that's more complicated, and who I can fix and we can work on it together.

That was my thing: if it's so easy, it's boring or something's not right.

When you aren't private you open yourself to everyone's opinions about you.