She may not have won Love Island USA Season 7, but she won the hearts of fans everywhere. Tuskegee University alumna Olandria Carthen became a fan favorite on the show, and after leaving the villa, she continues to be adored by many. In a recent article written by AFROTECH, Carthen talked about her journey to Tuskegee University and how she is building her brand.
During her recent appearance during the Her Conference “Butterfly Tour” at Texas A&M University, Carthen spoke about how her friends held her down while she was at the villa by taking over her social media accounts and creating a business email. This led to her receiving thousands of brand partnership offers when she returned home. The true villa bombshell has partnerships with major brands including Microsoft, NYX Cosmetics, Aveeno, Vaseline, and Sweetgreen.
“My friends even made a professional email for me for brands to contact me while I was in the villa. They were emailing them back… Handling all of that,” Carthen said during the Her Conference event. “I came back to an inbox with over thousands and thousands of brand partnerships. So as soon as I got my manager, I was like, “Here’s my inbox.”
She continued, “My friends literally set me up for success. All of these brand partnerships you see, like getting out of the gate, they did that.”
Not only is she well on her way to becoming the next “it girl,” but she is also finally achieving her longtimedream of having financial freedom. The same work ethic that has helped her land major brand deals is the work ethic that she used to fund her education at Tuskegee.
The Decatur, Alabama native is a proud Tuskegee University alumna. During the first episode, she gave Tuskegee a shoutout during her introduction. Carthen is the first person in her family to attend college. Like many HBCU students, she came from a single-parent household, so paying for college wasn’t easy. To pay for college, she cleaned rentals for $200 and spent her summers working 12-hour shifts at a plant alongside her mother, Felicia. These experiences taught her the true meaning of hard work and pushed her even further to get her degree.
In addition to working hard, Carthen wrote letters to receive financial help. She also received financial aid from Tuskegee. They helped her apply for unclaimed scholarships at the school and from the community and alumni.
“Back then it’s like, ‘How am I supposed to come up with this?’… I would like to write letters,” she mentioned on the panel. “I would print out my transcript, I would print out my balance, and I’d write a note like, ‘Hey, I’m Olandria Carthen. I’m from Alabama first-generation college student. Here’s my grades. Here’s my student ID number. Here’s the number to the bursar (the office that collected tuition at her college). All I need is a chance. I want to get my degree. No one in my family is able to do this. Can you help me? You don’t have to give the money to me…’ I kid you not, y’all. I would check my account every single day. Balance is cleared, paid.”
In August, Olandria returned to her HBCU for the Back 2 School Kickoff in partnership with Amazon. Carthen graduated from Tuskegee in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in logistics, materials, and supply chain management.
