— BASICS
Name: Aria Boughton Age / D.O.B.: 27 / July 9th, 1996 Gender, Pronouns & Sexuality: cis woman, she/her, lesbian Hometown: Geraldton, Western Australia; Moved to Hackensack, New Jersey at age 11 Affiliation: Media / Syndicate Job position: Photojournalist @ The New York Times Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Communication from NYU Relationship status: Single-ish Children: None Positive traits: Resourceful, Ambitious, Loyal, Diplomatic, Discreet Negative traits: Gullible, Obsessive, Insecure, Disorganized, Confrontational
— BIOGRAPHY
By the time her parents moved her to the states, Aria was a little eleven year old spitfire. Her father had to follow where the money was, and the money was apparently some well-off business that, at the time, she didn’t quite understand. From out of the heat and into the freezer, Aria had a harder time adjusting than she would have liked to admit and spent most of her middle school years keeping quiet and without very many friends. Most of it, of course, was stubbornness and protest. She had friends back in Australia and she refused to forget about them.
She grew out of that in high school, slotting right into extracurriculars — yearbook and student council — and making the friends she’d been without for so long. Aria attributes her time and effort spent there as where it all began for her, but truly it was hearing her parents talk about the protests in Zuccotti Park. Her father, having built somewhat of a name for himself in his company, had dismissed the protesters as nothing more than ‘dirty hippies’. Aria, though, found herself glued to the TV and to her laptop, looking at the photos of what these people were doing and how they were doing it.
Three years later, the summer after she graduated high school, another movement began. While unrest in Ferguson rocked the nation and brought attention to the injustice Black people experienced at the hands of the police— Aria found herself wanting to document every second of it. She knew that if no one wrote the articles, took the photos, captured video of every moment on the streets - history would erase every moment. It was there that she realized that this was her calling. She wanted to bring attention to what she could, when she could, and use her photos as a vehicle to tell the stories that needed to be told.
Her acceptance to NYU was a shock to both her and her parents, and while she and her father had grown distant over the years due to their differing opinions, he still showed up for her and promised to support her financially through it.
A year before she graduated college, she participated in the 2017 Women’s March and the photos she took there elevated her name further than she thought was possible. It gave her opportunities even before she’d managed to get her degree, and allowed her to begin her freelancing career in photojournalism almost immediately after graduation.
For a few years, she stayed with it, but grew increasingly frustrated with freelance pay and sought out something more stable. Her photos over the years of protests and marches were able to land her the job at the New York Times, but she’s already itching to find her next big break. Currently, she’s extremely interested in what The Brotherhood is doing, interested in their philosophy and what they stand for.
DEC. 2023 UPDATE:
Halloween turned her world upside down. After following her friend, Asa Holland, down into The Arène and subsequently being caught by Samar Burman - Aria's been quickly and swiftly brought into the Syndicate as a punishment for knowing too much and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She now works as an affiliate for the Syndicate, but is falling apart at the seams due to the intensity of it and her own mental health making it difficult to function through her fear. Time will tell if she learns to fit in.
As of right now, she feels completely and utterly alone and unsure where to turn.
— WANTED CONNECTIONS / PLOTS
WORK CONNECTION; someone she’s run into from time to time during her experience as a freelancer. they were a freelancer at the same time as she was and they have a bit of friendly rivalry of sorts
CONTACTS; she can always use more contacts for her work. those who give her a heads up or two to get in position before the rest, all to get the photos that can make or break a story
MENTOR TYPE (0/1); someone who’s been around the block, working for and in mainstream media for a few years and has taken aria under their wing to help her navigate the ins and outs of the industry when she first joined. they’re close friends as of now, even if they may work for different organizations
PLATONIC SOULMATE (0/1); a friend from college that she’s lost touch with but now are reuniting. they bonded through being in SHADES, a queer student-led club for students of color and their allies. this connection must be a queer moc!
CLIENTS; people who aria might have photographed outside of her work with the times and freelancing - these are people who have hired her for her more expensive side work as a boudoir photographer. most of her work there is more sensual with a tad bit darker undertones. she would not be a wedding, graduation, etc. type of photographer unless it was when she was first getting started!
MORE TO COME.
