The Hype House's Olivia Ponton Scaling Success at the Age of 18
Olivia Ponton is a model who rose to stardom through TikTok. She has a substantial social media following, with over 5.6 million followers on TikTok and 2.9 million followers on Instagram. She signed with Wilhelmina Models in 2020.
Ponton also joined The Hype House, a collective of TikTok personalities based in Los Angeles, California, in June 2020, fresh out of high school.
Ponton Blew Up Via TikTok
Initially, Ponton began making TikTok videos casually. She continued posting but wasn’t serious about it until her first viral moment. In conversation with Flaunt Magazine, she shared that her first video that ever did good was very random. She had posted it right before she went to a football game at her high school. "I never went to football games so it was weird I was going," she confessed.
I got all dressed up and cute, I posted it right before the game. Didn’t check my phone the entire game. I had 700k views in two hours. I remember sitting in the football stands being like what is this?!
Following her first viral video, the number of people enjoying her content soared. She posted her exercise videos after receiving comments and messages asking about her workout routines. Her content mainly comprises lip syncs, workout, and dancing videos.
Ponton has amassed over 420 million likes on her TikTok.
She Wants To Use Her Influence To Spread Positivity
The TikTok star has expressed her desire to spread positivity and help others on multiple occasions. When talking to The Teen Magazine, she said she enjoyed putting out exercise videos to help others achieve a healthier body and mindset.
Ponton also emphasized spreading positivity because she had also struggled with body dysmorphia and had to deal with a lot of negativity through social media. She revealed how she dealt with negative thoughts to Bello Mag.
One of the ways I am focusing on self-love and overcoming the negative voice in my head, is by writing positive affirmations on post-it notes and putting them on my mirrors. Whenever I start having those negative thoughts while looking in the mirror, I see my sticky notes and remind myself that all bodies are beautiful...
Ponton is currently focusing on women’s encouragement and positivity.
Working With 4Ocean
Having grown up in Naples, Florida, right next to the ocean, Ponton spent a lot of time on the beach. Skilled and passionate about water skiing, she has been working with 4Ocean to do ocean cleanups. The model spoke to Flaunt Magazine about her desire to help in their ocean cleanup efforts.
She lamented how people are normalizing trash on beaches and how it made her want to change things. She also expressed her desire to help out 4Ocean by going on clean-up trips with them.
[4Ocean] spend a few days going in the ocean, take boats out and clean out patches of trash. It’s insane to see how many animals die off of it because they think it’s food. It ends up being plastic then clogs their lungs.
Ponton also mentioned Alexis Ren as her role model, stating that Ren inspired her by talking about topics such as ocean pollution.
Partnered With World Harvest Food Bank
The TikTok star has partnered with World Harvest Food Bank to hand out food boxes to homeless people and those who need them. Speaking to Flaunt Magazine, Ponton shared her experience from when she moved back to L.A.
In her experience, the state and the sheer population of people living on the streets were heart-wrenching. The situation got even direr once she got off the freeway and headed back to her old house. She noticed that the number of people living under the bridges was "insane."
I’ve worked with World Harvest Food Bank to hand out food boxes to homeless people or people that need it, people drive up and get their food boxes.
Wanted To Be An Architect
Ponton is currently signed with Wilhelmina as a model. However, she initially wanted to be an architect and hadn’t given modeling any serious thoughts until people suggested she be one.
The TikTok star shared with The Teen Magazine that she used to be a tiny girl who only started growing in her eighth grade. Following her growth, a lot of people told her she should model, and she began considering the option.
When she went to Miami Swim Week, and people asked her what agency she was signed to, she decided to pursue a career in modeling.
While she is actively pursuing modeling and has expressed her excitement for the future, she still hasn’t given up on her goal to be an architect. She wants an Associate in Arts degree and a bachelor’s degree while majoring in architecture.
Hype House
After being signed to a modeling agency, Ponton moved to L.A. Following her move, multiple opportunities came to her, one of which was to join the Hype House, a collective of teen TikTok stars based in L.A.
She joined the Hype House in June of 2020 and has made multiple videos with fellow members of the collective.
The Hype Life
Hype House is one of the most popular TikTok collectives and has a shared fan base of over 18 million users. The collective is getting their own reality series titled The Hype Life.
The series will revolve around Hype House’s founders Chase Hudson and Thomas Petrou but will feature other stars of the collective. In Ponton’s interview with Entertainment Tonight, she revealed that she didn’t know much about the project.
Dated Kio Cyr
Ponton and Kio Cyr started dating each other in early 2020. He visited her house in Florida in February and the two made several videos together. By March, many of their fans began speculating if they were a thing, which both of them denied.
However, their fans were convinced that the two were dating and by April, both Ponton and Cyr confirmed that they were in a relationship.
Just two months later, they each took to social media to announce that they were no longer together. Ponton wrote, “I just did one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do” and “I will always love you.”
Cyr mirrored her words and wrote, “You’ll always have my heart. I wish you the best, angel.”
In an interview with The Tom Ward Show, the TikTok star refused to go into the break-up details and said that she and Cyr just weren’t meant to be.
At the time, neither Ponton nor Cyr explained the reason behind the split, but Ponton later explained to Hollywire that Cyr had cheated on her while the two were together.
Who Is She Dating?
After her split with Cyr, Ponton was rumored to be in relationships with Too Hot To Handle’s Harry Jowsey and musician actor Nate Wyatt.
She spoke to ET, clarifying that the two were just friends with her, thus putting the rumors to rest.
Towards the end of 2020, she was rumored to be dating boxer Ryan Garcia, who has a daughter, Catherine, with Instagram influencer Andrea Celina.
Net Worth
Aside from TikTok and Instagram, Ponton has also moved into YouTube, where she primarily posts vlogs. Though she doesn’t have much content up on her YouTube channel, she has already amassed 140k subscribers.
She is also signed with Wilhelmina, one of the top model agencies, and has appeared on the cover of Modeliste Magazine.
Ponton is also launching her own merch store soon. According to Legit, her estimated net worth is about a million dollars.