Years before Olandria Carthen entered the Love Island USA villa, she got her first job at 15 as a babysitter. Despite being on reality TV later in her life, “I didn’t just watch kids and put them in front of a television,” Carthen tells College Fashionista in an exclusive interview. “Education was always instilled in me at a young age. I’m like, ‘You know what? Let me go to the dollar store and get you some workbooks and teach you guys multiplication, addition, subtraction,” she says. “I would show their parents after the fact, like, ‘This is what we’re doing today.’ TVs all day? [No,] you’re gonna learn something here.”
Carthen’s babysitting days are in the rear view, and having her own kids is “way down the line,” but Carthen’s first job is still important to her. “It’s always beautiful to embrace where you came from,” she says. “It’s not where you start, it’s how you finish, so embrace what that looks like, embrace where you were at that time, and embrace those skill sets that you learned at that job and that you use to apply your life today.”
For Carthen, those skills she learned while watching six children still come in handy. “[Babysitting] truly taught me how to communicate effectively. Imagine trying to get through to a younger kid that’s throwing a temper tantrum for whatever reason, so they will be able to calm down and do whatever you ask them to do,” she says. “It taught me a lot about multitasking, trying to have all these kids do different activities, and you have to learn how to prioritize and multitask at that moment in time. It also just taught me patience overall.”
Learning these lifelong skills is part of the reason Carthen teamed up with McDonald’s for their First Job Confessional campaign, which aims to celebrate Americans’ first experiences in the workforce. Just like Carthen did, fans can step inside the McDonald’s confessional booth, record their first job story, and be handed a $15 McDonald’s gift card. The booth came to New York City and Austin in March, and will head to Pittsburgh in April and then Chicago in July.
Carthen holds McDonald’s close to her heart because her mom and sister both worked for the fast food restaurant. “[My mom] used to always bring home food from work to feed us. You know, single mom, three kids, do what you gotta do,” she says. Her McDonald’s faves now? The $5 Meal Deal with a Sprite. “Girl, it is like an out-of-body experience. I don’t know why that Sprite is so strong. It’s my energy drink. It wakes me all the way up,” she laughs.
From babysitting to brand deals, Carthen’s career has evolved in ways she never imagined. It’s what helped her close on her first house, a long-term goal she’d been working toward and recently accomplished. “It’s so funny because every time people used to ask me, ‘What’s a goal of yours?’ I was always like, ‘To be a homeowner,’ and I’m closing on my house tomorrow. I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness, I have to find a new goal,’” she says.
She may not have a new goal yet, but she’s booked and busy for 2026. Carthen says her fans “will be fed,” and not just by McDonalds. “I wish I could speak on certain things, but I really don’t like to speak on things until the ink dries,” she says. “Just know that I have so much in store for the month. A lot of things coming — a lot of exciting things.”
Author
