Don’t let the “Bama Barbie” nickname fool you. I think Olandria Carthen is the smartest woman to ever walk into the Love Island villa. She’s a first-generation college graduate who works in the elevator industry, which is probably the most uniquely impressive job I’ve ever heard for a reality star. She brings a level of real-world success and determination that feels completely new for this show. Honestly, it’s about time we got a contestant with this much substance.
So, what happens when a Southern belle with a serious career looks for love in a place like this? In my opinion, that’s where the real story begins. Her journey is already a rollercoaster, from wanting her own personal cowboy to a dramatic recoupling that shook things up. We have to break down how this Alabama trailblazer is handling the villa, because her story is so much more than just a summer fling.
Who Is Olandria Carthen
- Name: Olandria Lashae Carthen
- Age: 27
- Hometown: Decatur, Alabama
- Profession: Sales Associate at Otis Elevator Company
- Education: Tuskegee University (Bachelor’s in Supply Chain Management, 2022)
- Instagram: @x__0lan
- TikTok: @x_0lan
- Nickname: “Bama Barbie”
- Villa Entry: Day 1 original islander alongside Chelley Bissainthe
Shattering Social Boundaries and Hearts in the Villa
Olandria Carthen is one of the participants of Love Island USA Season 7. Unlike other participants of the show, she was more than a person, who found herself in the villa and was seeking someone to love. The 27-year-old native of Alabama comes with a strong narrative of willpower and an education and a career that puts her into a different category as those who usually appear on reality television shows.
Olandria is a proud first-generation college graduate who became the first in her family to obtain a Bachelor degree in Supply Chain Management degree at Tuskegee University in May 2022. Her success is reflective of all the years of toil and perseverance, as she shattered educational odds, which had been perpetuated in her family since many generations. She gave account of the feeling as the first in the family to complete high school education and college as one that she cannot describe it in words.
Olandria Carthen is a sales associate at Otis Elevator Company, a professional who works with modernisation of elevators and transport systems in urban areas. Her profession in the elevator and escalator business shows that she has mastered a narrow field where technical expertise and good networking skills are essential and will be easily transferred to villa life.
As a native of Decatur, the lady threw herself onto the villa in Day 1 before she and other Day 1 contestant Chelley Bissainthe made their presence known in the Island immediately. It did not take long before viewers and fellow occupants of the island suddenly noticed her Southern charm and considered herself a Southern belle, so they nicknamed her Bama Barbie.
It has been a romantic experience in the journey of Olandria Carthen in the villa. First she got hitched with Oklahoma cowboy Taylor Williams, as she said, to get possession of her own cowboy. Recent episodes however have seen her venturing out into new relationships including a shocking recoupling in episode 13 with newcomer Jalen Brown after a fan vote overturn.
She has brought much social media hype to Love Island USA, and followers have been complementing how real and beautiful she is. Her educational accomplishments coupled with her success in her career life and her real personality have made her team up to the best contestants that cannot be viewed in a single dimension of providing entertainment.
Olandria is the most recent in the trend of Alabama representation in Love Island USA due to her successor Robert Rausch of Season 6 being the second North Alabamian to feature in the villa after another. Her experience depicts the strength of education, determination and being faithful to your own origins even when pursuing love in a national television.
