Olivia Ponton

Dimitri: How was your photo shoot with Mike Ruiz?

Olivia: This was probably one of my most favorite photoshoots I’ve ever done. The creativity that we tapped into was in-freaking-sane! The outfits I was telling the stylist, I was like, I have never even been put in something like this before. We were doing head scarves and headpieces and the makeup, and they bleached my eyebrows in the morning. Just the most creatively, perfectly put-together shoot that I’ve ever been a part of.

Dimitri: Recently, you were on a panel for long-term luxury sustainability. I would love to know more of your take on the what is the long-term for the luxury, especially for the luxury segment.

Olivia: When I got the opportunity to do that, I was just very excited about it because I think something that is very popular today is fast fashion and shipping stuff in 24 hours, and it’s so easy and people are so drawn to things that are easy, especially in the United States. I think speaking more about vintage and thrifting and going through your parents’ or your grandparents’ closets, it’s something, in my opinion, that is way more personable, and it’s like, oh, a lot of my jewelry comes from my mom, my grandmother, my great-grandmother, and it’s like almost having a little piece of your family with you all the time.

Even for thrifting, it’s definitely more popular in New York, I would say, but recently, I’ve just been with all my friends and they’re like, oh, let’s go shopping. I’m always the one to initiate thrifting. I’m like, let’s stop at these few stores first, because also embarrassing when you show up to a party or event and you’re wearing the same outfit as somebody else. With thrifting, you will have a 99% of chance that won’t happen to you, and it’s not only amazing for our environment, but it’s just a well-rounded awesome feeling to say, this is my very own personal piece.

Dimitri: How did you get into Sports Illustrated?

Olivia: Oh gosh, bless. I couldn’t even tell you. Honestly, it was a dream come true. I have been dreaming about it since I was maybe 11, 12, 13, that very young era. Little Olivia was maybe about five feet at the time. It was a dream. I was seeing all these beautiful women gracing the covers. When I got older, I just started talking about those women more. I was also talking about it on my social media and just being like, it’s a dream. Never in a million years would I ever thought it was obtainable.

Then, I got the phone call telling me “they want you to be a Rookie for 2022”. I fell to the floor crying, couldn’t believe it. I remember being on set that day and literally crying and messing up the makeup and then not being able to tell anyone why I was messing up my makeup because when you work with Sports Illustrated, they’re super, like, don’t tell anyone. You can’t post anything when you’re on the trip, nothing, nothing, nothing. I remember trying to keep it a secret from my mother, and that was the hardest thing ever.

Dimitri: Oh, wow. You couldn’t even tell your family?

Olivia: No. I mean, I eventually caved in and did, but it took a few weeks because I was like, no, I shouldn’t do this, I shouldn’t do this, but I was like, ah, I have to!

Dimitri: I think sharing this kind of stuff with your family is important just because you have to talk to someone about it.

Olivia: I know. I was so nervous for the photo shoot that I had to call my mom before and be like, I’m freaking out. What do I do?

Dimitri: You also worked for Sports Illustrated at the Miami Miami Swim Week. Was it before or after your photoshoot with them?

Olivia: That was after. They had all us girls come into Miami, and we did the whole little week together. It was honestly, again, just a very much pinch me, am I dreaming moment? It was just filled with activities, a lot of team bonding exercises, a lot of breakouts, which was fun. Then we ended up all ending the week off with the runway.

Dimitri: That’s amazing. You also recently switched agencies, is that correct? You went to IMG.

Olivia: I think we had our first-ever meeting on Zoom, and my now agent was just thrilled and excited to be talking to me, I remember after feeling like I was in shock. I was like, I had no words. IMG was my dream agency since I first got into modeling, which was maybe when I was like 16-ish, maybe 16, 17. Then it eventually happened, and I couldn’t believe it. I was freaking out with my best friend when it happened. The moment I did my in-person visit with them in New York, every single agent came out and said hi to me. They are truly, truly such a family-orientated agency, which I couldn’t adore more.

Dimitri: You manage to master quite an impressive social media following. What do you think really worked for you? You don’t just wake up and have a massive following. What do you think?

Olivia: I think, honestly, what worked for me that I saw on social media was that I saw a gap between girls being a model and presenting in a very feminine way and being very girly-girl and showing all these amazing parts of their life. However, there was also an imbalance of girls that were posting the negative stuff that we go through in our mental health aspects.
I’ve struggled with my sexuality and eating disorders and a ton of different things, and I think– I’ve always said that I wanted to be the girl that I needed when I was 14 years old. At that time, I was very much looking at the tippity top models who didn’t really post on social media and didn’t really talk about any of the things that they were struggling with. I think that was the thing that I wanted to do. I think that also resonates with a lot of other girls who are doing what I’m doing or want to be doing what I’m doing.

Dimitri: When it comes to social media, there is a good side and it’s a crazy size. Do you think we need to do just a little bit less and just disconnect ourselves from the internet? People feel too attached to their phones.

Olivia: Yes. We definitely are a little too attached. I think the past even few months I’ve recognized that about myself. Our phones even tell us our screen time and it’s like how many times have I gone onto my screen time and seen that for the day my average is eight or nine hours? I just realized, I was like, I’m getting less sleep than I am spending on screen time. That is not okay. [laughs]
I started taking those measurements into account and tracking my sleep and making sure that I am getting more sleep than I am on my phone because I couldn’t tell you how many nights I’ve stayed up until 2:00 AM scrolling through TikTok. Not a bad thing every once in a while, but also it is a very good thing to disconnect and take mental health days. “Mental health days,” for me, it’s getting off my phone, hanging around my friends, being productive, doing my work that doesn’t require me being on a social media or any type of device, and just being in the moment and putting my “Do Not Disturb” on.

Dimitri: Absolutely. Especially when you out and see people being on their phones rather than talking among themselves. All I want to say to them, put your phone down for a second.

Olivia: Exactly. I will make my friends do that. If we’re out at dinner and I look up and everyone’s on their phone, I’m like, no. What? Uh-huh. I’m like, put all of our phones, stack them on top of each other. We are not collectively going on our phones right now. Whoever picks hers up first, they have to pay for the meal or whatever it would be.

Dimitri: I’m really impressed with your partnership with the 4OCEAN organization because I’m actually a big supporter of ocean cleanups.

Olivia: Thank you.

Dimitri: Is this because you grew up near the ocean, how has the love for the ocean become part of your life?

Olivia: Definitely, I grew up on the beach and in the ocean every single day, and I think I really took for granted how beautiful Florida beaches are and how clean they are. Over time, I started getting opportunities to travel more. With that, you get to go see amazing mountains and beaches and whatnot. I was noticing these places that I was traveling to, the beaches were, some of them, stunning, beautiful, but more than others, there was trash everywhere, there was littering, there was insane things all over the beach, things that you wouldn’t even expect to be seeing. It’s like what is going on right now?
I think that’s what got me into it. I think it just started with me following ocean conservation pages on Instagram. Then the thing that I remember really hit me was in Fort Lauderdale, which is on the other coast of where I grew up I saw that– maybe I think it was seven or eight years ago now, the brand Goodyear, thought that they wanted to start to rebuild our coral reef. They thought of tying a bunch of rubber tires together with a rope and putting it into our ocean was going to help coral grow.
What they didn’t do enough research on was that we suffer insane hurricanes and our waters get really, really choppy. That caused the rope for the tires to break. There’s just tires literally everywhere on our ocean floors. I saw the pictures and I remember my mouth dropping. I think that was the final straw that I was like, okay, I need to do something about this. We need to get these tires out of our ocean.
After that happened, I felt like I just went into a rabbit hole of getting educated on it and different organizations. People don’t even realize how much of our oxygen comes from our coral reefs and how important they are to make sure that our oceans creatures are alive and stable. That’s why this summer, I went to Tahiti with an organization called Coral Gardeners. They basically rehabilitate coral reefs for the warmer water that we are suffering from due to global warming.

Dimitri: Do you think that we overconsume, especially when it comes to plastic?

Olivia: Yes. As consumers, I feel like it’s hard for us to limit certain plastic uses because whatever we buy at the grocery store is 9 times out of 10 wrapped in plastic, and it’s like, that’s where the problem is. Obviously, every little thing counts, but it’s these big brands and organizations that are mass producing this plastic that is being put in our grocery stores and whatnot. That is what is the problem.
The wrapping and the packaging from the groceries or the fruits and vegetables at the delis, it’s like that is all totally plastic. It’s really unnecessary in my opinion.

Dimitri: Also, it’s quite an interesting subject. You touched it just briefly before, but you publicly came out as a member of LGBTQ community. How did it make you feel just to be out and free?

Olivia: Just awesome. It was awesome. Just like a very much weight lifted off my shoulders. I felt like before I came out, I was very much in the closet with myself, and I didn’t want to accept it myself. The moment that I did and the moment my friends became supportive, and the more people stopped asking me how my boyfriend was doing, they would be like, oh, are you seeing anyone? Not just gendering it. It’s probably been the biggest weight lift off my mental health, being able to accept myself and realize that I deserve love no matter what. Having people in your life that think the same thing as you is impeccable.

Dimitri: That’s amazing. I think that’s the best, to be just true to yourself, not what other people think or influence. If you’re true to yourself, that’s the main thing. You also been quite active with other non-profit organizations like The World Harvest Food Bank, GLAAD, and Paw Works. Is it all coming from the same love and starting from the oceans and going into other organizations?

Olivia: I think it definitely started with the fact that my mother’s job is in this space. She works at something very similar to a World Harvest, but it’s in Florida, and it does more about teaching and parenting. When I was growing up every Friday, we would go to the food pantry and we would collect the food and get it ready and have the people come and pick up their groceries. They didn’t pay for any of it. I thought that was super important, especially with the economy and all the crazy stuff that we’re undergoing.

You don’t realize what this week’s groceries for this family means to them. If we can all collectively do something for others it could change the world. Tomorrow night, I’m going volunteering, and I just bring my friends with me, and I’m like, “Come do this with me. You’re going to feel good about it. You’re going to see these people’s faces light up from this meal that they’re getting.” The amount of love that we’re going to be surrounded with is going to be insane for everyone. I want to spend that with other people that appreciate it.

Olivia: I would say definitely to not care what other people are saying about you. I think for me, once I realized to take a step back and realized literally this in 20 years isn’t going to matter, especially being a teenager, dealing with friend drama and relationships and all of that crazy stuff, for me, I just am like, focus on your work, focus on your job, focus on your happiness, focus on your friends and your family.

The relationships are probably right now just going to hurt you and you’re not going to regret working in five years. You’re going to be happy that you set yourself up for success and getting in the right rooms with people and honestly just being a really nice person and caring about people and realizing that everybody is going through stuff is important. And, if you can be on set and you can make one person smile, one person’s day better, that matters more than anything else.

Dimitri: What do you do in your spare time? Do you have any spare time at all? Especially in 2022, it sounds like you had no time.

Olivia: I mean, honestly, on a real note, no, I don’t have a ton of free time, but I make myself have free time. I think it’s very important scheduling out your free time. It’s like I’ve noticed the best way for me to have my joy, is through scheduling out things to learn. I’m learning how to speak French right now. I’m learning a the piano. I’m reading like I have never read before. In the new year, I’m going to start ice skating classes. I’m still taking classes, I’m still learning, and I feel like that’s for me more a hobby and fun.