Olivia Ponton Lives In The Moment — And It’s Working

There’s a lull in the room when Olivia Ponton walks in and asks if she’s in the right place. Instantly, the quiet studio in midtown Manhattan transforms into a flurry of motion — Ponton shakes everyone’s hands, puts down her bag, and jumps into the photo shoot. Katy Perry’s greatest hits (her choice) are blasting in the background, as a mini leaf blower is used to leave her blond hair perfectly disheveled.

Ponton is used to being on set, and it shows, as she poses with a Y2K-coded pair of sunglasses and wired headphones that she just pulled out of her purse. The 23-year-old got her start in the modeling industry after she signed with her first agency at 17, but when the pandemic hit only two weeks later, she shifted her focus to content creation, sharing dance videos on TikTok. At the time, she didn’t have any reservations about starting a career in the public eye. “I don’t think there was any point where I was nervous or scared about it because I had no idea what I was walking into,” Ponton says.

Six years into her career, Ponton has built quite the resume, including a Hype House stint in 2020, a Sports Illustrated Swim debut in 2022, and partnerships with Tommy Hilfiger, Maybelline, and Coach. Now, Ponton is focused on Booked & Busy, her monthly podcast, where she discusses her favorite books and authors. She dropped her first episode, a deep dive into Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing, on Oct. 27.

This new venture has been a long time coming. “About a year ago, maybe longer, I slowly started posting about book stuff. Every week or so, I’d share something bookish because TikTok feels like a book club,” she says. Ponton was not always a big reader, but she fell in love with the world of fiction a few years ago — mostly as a way to escape her real (and extremely online) life.

I had no idea what I was signing up for.

Growing up, this type of career wasn’t really on Ponton’s radar. Her mom works at a nonprofit, and her dad’s a teacher. But in high school, her best friend started modeling and encouraged her to do the same. “That’s what started the domino effect, but I don’t know if there was ever a point in time where I was like, ‘I want to do this, and I know I can do it,’” she says.

In 2020, her influencer career blew up, and she was invited — via DM, of course — to join the Hype House, a Barbie dream house for TikTok influencers. “I had no idea what I was signing up for,” she says. “I try to explain it to people, but it’s just so weird. It didn’t feel real.”

At the time, her boyfriend (Sway House’s Kio Cyr) and best friend already lived in L.A., so they encouraged her to take the leap, too. She made the move from her home in Naples, Florida, to Los Angeles in June 2020 — much to her parents’ chagrin. “They thought it was going to be the biggest regret in my life,” she says. Ponton went anyway. For the first two weeks, they didn’t speak at all. “We talk about it to this day,” she says. “I remind them, ‘I’m really happy I did that because that worked out great for me.’”

Manifestation works, guys.

When she first joined the cohort of influencers, 17 people were living in the house — three girls and 14 boys. “No dishes were getting done, and there were ant piles everywhere. It was pretty gross, I’m not going to lie, but it was a gorgeous house,” she says. “Even if it was gross, it was still chic. You know what I mean?”

Ponton stayed there for about four months before moving out. Six months later, she left L.A. for New York. “The scene in L.A.… I like to call it ‘floof.’ They’re very fake. They do a lot of filler talk,” she says. The NYC influencer scene is different — people tend to prioritize work over socializing. “Here, everyone is in their own lane. … I personally really enjoy it.”

After she made the move, Ponton’s modeling career took off — and she landed her dream gig in October 2022: working for Victoria’s Secret. “Growing up, I wanted to be a Victoria’s Secret Angel, but that was when I was 14 years old and 5-foot-2,” she says. “As I got older, the dream didn’t seem as out of reach.” Ponton holds up her finger, showing me a tattoo there. “I got this angel tattoo because I knew that I would model for Victoria’s Secret one day. Two weeks later, I got my first casting. Manifestation works, guys.”

Ponton also successfully manifested herself a cameo in It Ends With Us, the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel. She and Hoover had already exchanged a few DMs when the author reached out to see if she would be interested in making an appearance in the movie.

“She invited me to come onto set. I showed up to my fitting, and Justin Baldoni was there. He handed me the script and was like, ‘Please read it. Let me know if you have any notes.’ I was like, ‘Me?’” she says. “I sat down and I read the entire script in one sitting, and then we filmed the next day for 14 hours. I got home at like 5 a.m.”

She’s hopeful for another call when filming for Verity starts. “I’m just such a fan of the work that I’m like, ‘If you ever need anyone to do anything, I can be a tree in the background,’” she jokes.

Ponton is best known for her aspirational lifestyle content, travel videos, and open conversations about sensitive topics, like her coming-out journey (Ponton identifies as pansexual) and her history with an eating disorder. But when she isn’t working (or exchanging DMs with her favorite authors), she tries to stay offline. “My screen time is so disgusting. It’s probably eight or nine hours a day. My eyes are in pain by the end of the day. I can’t even look at a TV,” Ponton says. “Reading is just such a good way to unplug. That way, I don’t get any notifications. No one can bother me.”

People like to frame it as gatekeeping, but what if I just don’t want to have a screen in front of me every moment?

Finding that balance hasn’t always been easy. “I think a lot of content creators struggle with that. There’s this constant feeling of ‘Oh, I could be recording this.’ But it’s learning how to say ‘OK, these parts of myself, I’m not going to show,’” she says. “People like to frame it as gatekeeping, but what if I just don’t want to have a screen in front of me every moment?”

Ponton has an on-and-off relationship with her DMs. “It comes in waves. I’ll go six months without looking at them. But some days, I’ll look,” she says. “Sometimes I think, ‘I actually don’t want to read your opinion about me today.’”

There’s really only one type of message that bothers her. “Sometimes I get tongue twisted or say the wrong thing, and people take that as me being a ‘dumb blond.’ Really, I just had ADHD and my brain is moving faster than my mouth,” she says. “It doesn’t mean that I’m any less educated than the average reader.”

Ponton first learned the importance of establishing boundaries with her followers after her breakup with Cyr in 2020. “That was my first relationship ever,” she says. It was all new to her, and all of it took her by surprise — especially how invested her followers became in it. “When we were together, I was like, ‘Oh, you guys care about this just as much as I do. Yay.’ But then, when we broke up, I was really shocked by how much people cared.” She resolved to keep future relationships more private. “After that, I was like, ‘Never again.’”

Ponton doesn’t discuss her current love life, but she does have advice for her younger self after years of dating in the spotlight. “If I could go back to my 18-year-old self, I’d say, ‘Just have fun with it. It’s not that serious.’ Relationships shouldn’t be a weight on your shoulders.”

If someone starts to play a game, I’m just like, ‘Well, you lost me. Goodbye.’

She continues: “When you’re dating, try not to care about whether they like you. You should be thinking, ‘Do I like them?’ You need to flip that switch in your brain. For me, if someone starts to play a game, I’m just like, ‘Well, you lost me. Goodbye.’” Ponton recommends looking for a value match instead. “Ask yourself ‘Does this person have the same values as me? Do I see myself going to them for advice?’ If not, I don’t really know if that’s your person. You should have similar morals.”

Still, according to Ponton, the best advice she’s gotten has not come from a partner, but from model and VS Angel Josephine Skriver. “She told me, ‘In this industry, you have to put your work before literally anything else. If you commit to something, it doesn’t matter what it is, you have to show up for it. If not, what are you even doing?’ Hearing her say it, something clicked,” she says. “There are times when I want to go and hang out with my friends, but I have a work commitment. It’s hard, but she was right.”

Even with the occasional FOMO, Ponton has no complaints about her career. “There’s not really anything that I would change. I never want to resent what I do because it’s the best job in the world, so I don’t ever want to get to a point where I look at it negatively."

Ponton plans to hold onto this optimism. But generally speaking, she has a policy against looking too far into the future. “Right now, my whole life is Booked & Busy stuff, and that’s how I want to keep it,” she says. “In this industry, you’re constantly like, ‘OK, what’s next?’ While that’s incredible, sometimes you just have to take a minute to be happy with where you are now.”

She trusts that when it comes time to answer that question, she’ll know what to do. “My whole life has already been written. I just have to follow what feels right.”