Favorite Character: Mikaela Banes (Transformers)

When Mikaela Banes first appeared in Transformers she was shown as nothing more than the arm candy girlfriend to preppy dumb jock Trent DeMarco. Thankfully, after dumping Trent, Mikaela was able to move pass that label to become a more well rounded character.

The viewers were then shown a smart, capable and resourceful young woman helping Sam Witwicky and the Autobots take on the Decepticons. It's hard to forget seeing her drive a tow truck in reverse so Bumblebee could stop a Decepticon from attacking. What I like about Mikaela is that she's an expert at fixing cars, however, she downplayed her intelligence and expertise so as not to show up her then boyfriend Trent. Unfortunately, some girls (and women) feel like they have to play dumb to not only fit in but as a way to not intimidate boys so they will like them. Playing dumb only made Trent think that's what she was and he certainly didn't think too highly of her when she wanted to drive his SUV. You can tell he prefers his girlfriends to be nothing more than arm candy.

(Mikaela and Trent        Transformers)

Favorite Character: Denise Huxtable (The Cosby Show)

I've been rewatching The Cosby Show and the spinoff A Different World and it made me remember how cool and quirky Denise Huxtable was. She's one of my favorite characters and I think what made her cool was that she wasn't trying to be, she just was. While Denise at times can be a little flighty, scatterbrain and disorganized, she's smart, outspoken, spontaneous, fun-loving, kind and always willing to help her family and friends.

As for her style, it was just as eccentric and bohemian as she was and included so many crazy combinations that she pulled off with total confidence. I noticed her style matured a bit after she got married. It still had that quirky vibe to it but a little more polished. Denise didn't shy away from keeping her wardrobe interesting from quintessential 1980's pieces to wearing 1920's inspired pieces, she wore it all. She was a true fashion and beauty icon because she didn't follow any rules. She wore her hair in multiple styles, from short and punk to long and curly, she even wore long dreadlocks as well as 1920's inspired finger waves.

Favorite Character: Neha Patel (The Internship)

In the movie The Internship, Neha Patel (played by Tiya Sircar) is a college student interning at Google. She along with the other members of her intern group were competing against other interns in hopes of securing a job with the company after graduating from college.

What I like about Neha is she's beyond intelligent, extremely motivated, passionate about tech and had a strong interest in geek stuff. She also has a unique sense of fashion, it's girly meets quirky cool. However, she covered up some of her social insecurities by pretending on some level to be more confident (and sexually experienced) than she really was. But I thought by the end of the movie she really grew into being that strong, confident person she had been sort of pretending to be.

Although Neha was an intern, it was so great to see her in the movie because women in tech are underrepresented and even more so for women of color. But I like to think things are changing because women are making great strides within the industry.

I do wish there had been a sequel because I could easily see Neha taking the skills and experience she gained from working at Google for a few years then starting up her own tech company.