Actress Shannon Purser hopes her coming out helps young people struggling with their sexuality.

Purser, who is best known for playing Barbara “Barb” Holland on the Netflix hit Stranger Things and Ethel Muggs in The CW's teen drama Riverdale, came out bisexual on Twitter last year.

(Related: Stranger Things star Shannon Purser comes out bisexual.)

Speaking with PEOPLE, Purser, 21, said that a person's sexuality should be irrelevant.

“I would love for us to get to a point in society where it doesn't really matter what your sexuality is, but right now there is a lot of turmoil around that issue, a lot of controversies where there shouldn't be,” Purser said.

“[I want to be] somebody [young people] can look up to.”

“I just always think about what would I have needed as a kid, what would have meant a lot to me? If somebody can see me and feel less alone and more understood, then that's it,” she said.

“That's what matters most to me,” she said about receiving messages from fans about coming out. “That's the best compliment I've ever received.”