From NYX to Pandora, Olandria Carthen has turned a year of sold-out campaigns into a business portfolio, and she’s just getting started.
Before the red carpets and the billboards, Olandria Carthen was clocking in at an elevator sales job in Houston, a Tuskegee University graduate learning how to close a deal. Those sales instincts never left her. In less than a year and a half, the Decatur, Alabama native has sold out lip kits, handbags and a limited-edition salad bowl, signed with Digital Brand Architects and then UTA, and built a following of more than 4.5 million across her platforms.
An HBCU graduate and the first in her family to finish college, she has been courted by beauty, fashion, food, tech and luxury brands at a pace few newcomers ever see. This is how the self-described “Bama Barbie” built one of the most talked-about brand portfolios in the culture.
The First Wave
Her modeling debut came in August 2025, when she and Nic Vansteenberghe starred in a Kulani Kinis swimwear campaign for his exclusive edit. Then came NYX Professional Makeup. Fans had spent the season asking about her lip combo, and in August 2025 the brand released the Nicolandria Lip Combo: two Butter Glosses in Lava Cake and Spiked Toffee and a Slim Lip Pencil in Espresso. It sold out within its first 24 hours online and sold out again on restock. The relationship didn’t end there. In July 2026 she was back as a NYX partner, wearing the brand to a FIFA World Cup quarterfinal in Los Angeles.
In September 2025, Microsoft brought her on to show off Copilot by spotlighting the history of her alma mater, Tuskegee. That same month she walked the Raising Cane’s Fashion Week show in New York and unboxed the Angel Reese 1 alongside Angel Reese, kicking off her work with Reebok on the WNBA star’s debut signature sneaker.
The Nicolandria Effect
That fall belonged to the couple. On October 4, 2025, she and Nic hit the Texas vs. Florida game with DoorDash, with their DoorDash ad following later that month. On October 6, Sweetgreen launched the Ranchy Baddie Bowl, a limited-edition bowl co-created with the pair after fans flooded the brand’s comments asking “Where’s Olandria?” when Nic got a solo campaign. It ran through October 27.
Solo billing came fast. In October 2025, UGG made her the face of the relaunched Classic Short Fluff Momma, a revival of its 1999 boot campaign. In November, she joined Reebok’s launch campaign for the Angel Reese 1.
Global Rooms
On January 14, 2026, Netflix welcomed her to the Bridgerton Season 4 world premiere in Paris, where she wore Rahul Mishra and the streamer’s TikTok named her the “diamond of the season.” In February, Sephora posted a reel of her shopping her favorite Black-owned beauty brands, including Fenty Beauty and Danessa Myricks Beauty.
March brought two more. McDonald’s tapped her for its First Job Confessional campaign, a fitting match since her mother and sister have both worked for the chain. Jo Malone London chose her to front its Yuzu Zest Cologne.
The Coachella Era
In April 2026, Barbie made its first-ever appearance at Coachella with the “You Can Be Any Barbie” campaign, and Carthen was its face. She recreated the original 1959 doll’s striped swimsuit, and a hologram of her welcomed visitors to the activation. The same weekend she wore a full face of YSL Beauty at the YSL Beauty Drive Thru, and Amika featured her in its “On Your Wavelength” campaign.
Her Name on the Product
May 27, 2026 was one of her biggest days yet. MAC Cosmetics released its MACzine blush feature starring Carthen and celebrity makeup artist Ngozi Esther Edeme, known as Painted By Esther. The same day, Olandria x Brandon Blackwood launched. Brandon Blackwood, the Black designer behind her 2025 CFDA Awards look, co-created her first fashion collection: the O-Zip Mini Trunk, O-Top Handle Bag, O-Vanity Case and O-Lipstick Case Bag Charm in Bama Barbie pink, hot pink and jet black. It sold out in about 10 minutes, and the brand reopened preorders.
She went into summer as the face of Poppi‘s “Vibe Break with Olandria” campaign for the return of Punch Pop in a limited-edition Love Island USA can, and Poppi surprised her with a floating billboard of the campaign at her 28th birthday in Miami. She also starred in Jose Cuervo‘s spot for its second year as the official tequila of Love Island USA, and Visa brought her on as a creator for the FIFA World Cup, putting her in the stands at one of the world’s most-watched sporting events.
Bigger Campaigns, Bigger Names
On September 3, MAC unveiled its global “We All Wear MAC” campaign for the Studio Radiance Skin Tint Stick, created by creative director Nicola Formichetti, with Carthen alongside brand ambassador Doja Cat, Olympic gold medalist Masai Russell and singer Tini. In October she landed a collaboration she had manifested. After meeting Pat McGrath at Glamour Women of the Year in 2025, she said publicly that she wanted to work with her. On October 8, 2026, Carthen became the face of the Pandora x Pat McGrath jewelry collection, starring alongside McGrath in a campaign photographed by Micaiah Carter. Her ties to Pandora go back further: she has spoken about the charm bracelet her mother gave her, and she wore the brand in the villa. That same month, she was among the speakers at CultureCon 2026 in New York.
The Ola Doll Effect
None of this happens without the Ola Dolls. Her devoted fan base has turned nearly every launch she touches into a sellout, from the NYX lip combo that disappeared in a day to the Brandon Blackwood bags that were gone in about 10 minutes. They flooded Sweetgreen’s comments asking “Where’s Olandria?” until the brand made a bowl with her, and they show up for every campaign like family.
What’s Next for Olandria Carthen
The accolades have kept pace with the deals. Carthen won the EBONY Power 100 People’s Choice Award and has been named to TIME100 Creators, the Adweek Creative 100 and the Create & Cultivate 100.
Now the woman who has sold out so many products for other brands is building one of her own. At the 2026 Create & Cultivate Festival in Los Angeles, she said she is “in the weeds and the building stages” of a body care brand, joking that after selling out everybody else’s products, it was time to “sell out my own for a second.” She has said the line could include body oils, and at a New York Fashion Week event she promised it is coming soon. A name and launch date have not been announced.
She confirmed the plan in her Byrdie Main Character Issue cover story, published November 10. “I definitely want to build my own brand in the body care space, and I’m in the early stages,” she said, adding that the 10-minute sellout of her Brandon Blackwood collection showed her team that “she really has the power to build something of her own.”
She also shared that she bought her first home in May, fulfilling a dream her single mother had for their family, and that she plans to start a scholarship fund for students in the same position she once was. “I’m seeing myself build generational wealth from scratch,” she said. Of the women following her journey, she told the magazine, “I want us to know that we can experiment, evolve, change our minds, and go after whatever we want. It all belongs to you.”
