Olandria Carthen is learning to ‘live in the moment’ — and she wants you to do the same
TheGrio...
Love Island star Olandria Carthen reminds fans to “embrace every part of their journey” in new partnership with McDonalds.
Last summer, “Love Island USA” gave us a lot to talk about, but few people captured hearts quite like Olandria Carthen. The woman fans call “Bama Barbie” walked into the villa and walked out a star, and she’s been moving ever since, from appearances at the Oscars and Golden Globes to posing for Sports Illustrated and more. But in a refreshingly grounded moment, the 27-year-old told theGrio that she’s in a season of intentional stillness, learning to embrace every moment, despite her hectic schedule.
“I just want to tell my younger self, ‘my girl, it all works in the end, just embrace where you are at that moment in time.’ I feel like I was just too busy chasing after what was next, instead of just embracing where I was at the current time. And once that time passes, you don’t get it back,” she shared. “So I’m trying to learn to do that at the ripe age of 27 — live in the moment more, and embrace things as they’re happening, not trying to chase after what’s next.”
That philosophy is exactly what drew Carthen to her latest brand partnership. Famously intentional about who and what she aligns herself with, she connected deeply with McDonald’s “First Job Confessional,” a reality TV-inspired campaign inviting people to dish on their very first jobs and reflect on the foundational skills those experiences quietly built in them.
“I really love the creative and the whole entire concept of this McDonald’s partnership, because it really pushes me to push into the younger generations to embrace where you start,” she said. “Obviously, a lot of our first jobs, we probably don’t even include them on our resume anymore, because we don’t think they’re important, but they’re so important. That’s where we got the majority of our skills that we still probably take with us to this day.”
“I just kind of want people to start embracing where they start,” she emphasized.
For Olandria, that first chapter started with babysitting. She’ll admit she goes back and forth on whether the experience made her more or less eager to have kids of her own someday, but what she can say without hesitation is that it gave her patience. And that patience has followed her through every single season of her life: college, the corporate world, a nationally televised dating show, and now, life as an influencer, model, and public figure whose every move is watched and celebrated.
It was that quiet grace under pressure that made audiences fall in love with her in the first place. Facing moments that would have broken most people down, even in private, and doing it in front of thousands of daily viewers, Carthen never lost herself.
“I think a lot of my support comes from me being very authentic,” she said, expressing a deep level of care for her supporters. In a society where everyone is rushing to the next thing, Carthen says she allows her mind to linger on impactful moments, like seeing her fans show up in droves outside of the Valentino show during Couture Fashion Week in Paris.
“Just to see that outpouring support, I’m like, it brought me to tears. I’m like, Oh my gosh, this is really my life. Like, the support is not just online. These people are showing up in droves to support me in person, in the flesh, a small town girl from Bama,” she said. “I still get chills just thinking about that moment. I wish I could relive it over and over and over. But just seeing that support, not behind a social media page, but actually in person, they’re bearing gifts.”
She continued, “And I don’t know if it’s the power of social media of how everyone wants to move on so quickly, because it’s a new conversation and a new thing every single day. But even with that going on, I’m like, ‘You know what? Y’all might have moved on, but I’m still here,’” she joked.
Reflecting on her journey, Carthen ultimately wants her fans to understand: “It’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish.”
“I would say to those young girls, continue to dream big. Go after what you want. Never think just because of where you are, where you are in life, that you’ll never get there, that you’ll never reach those goals. Continue to live in the moment, but also embrace where you’re going. Embrace every part of your journey, The Good, the Bad, the Ugly. Just know it’s the reason behind all that.”