Social Media Influencer and Model

Olivia Ponton | Biography

Member of Hype House

• By Chetana
• Original : September 02, 2021

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Olivia Ponton is an American social media influencer and model. She came out as bisexual in June 2021.

Who Is Olivia Ponton?

Olivia Ponton is an internet influencer signed by Wilhelmina Modeling Agency. She is also a member of the popular young group of TikTok personalities, Hype House, since June 2020. Ponton gained the limelight on TikTok after posting a dance video before going to a high school football match. 

She has featured in an ad for SKIMS, a company owned by Kim Kardashian. She also launched her swimwear collection in collaboration with White Shore Swim. 

Furthermore, Ponton came out as bisexual after accepting that she was attracted to both males and females. She is currently in a relationship with Kaila Novak, a UCLA Women's Soccer team member. She also celebrated the 2021 Pride Month and wished her followers a Happy Pride Month through her Instagram story. She wrote, "So honored [and] happy for this to be my first pride month out. Yesterday was such an emotional day for me :) so beyond blessed to have such a strong community to stand with."

Early Life

Olivia Ponton was born on 30 May 2002 in Naples, Florida, USA. She went to Naples High School and was on the high school sports team. In addition, she was in yoga class and competed in waterskiing and running for the 4x100 relay and the 60-meter dash.

During middle school, she got interested in architecture and wanted to get a degree in interior design. So, to pursue an associate in arts degree and a bachelor's degree, she opted to begin college classes early and enrolled in Florida and South-Western College's dual enrollment program in junior high. Upon graduation, she applied to Florida International University and got admitted in freshman year.

Ponton also attended school in Costa Rica and Nicaragua for a short period. While there, she also taught English to teachers and students of local schools.

She eludes that the town she grew up in shaped her to appreciate nature and traveling. In an interview with Flaunt magazine, she shared her admiration for beaches, which became an integral part of herself while growing up. "Honestly, I didn't take it for granted because I took advantage of being so close to the beach. I went to the beach 3 to 4 times a week after school, before school. Especially on the weekends when I wasn't having track meets, I'd literally spend the entire day at the beach because it was so close. I forget not everyone grows up near the beach, [laughs] so I sometimes can't relate. Being so close to something like that is amazing, I'm glad my parents raised me there. It did shape me because I'm travel-oriented. My town Naples, Florida isn't super big, about an hour and a half away from Miami, which is really fun because I'd go to Miami for jobs. My sister lives in Boca, so I'd drive to her and spend a day or two. We'd all go out to dinner with my family, super fun," she said.

Career

Ponton is 5 feet nine inches tall. However, her height started growing only after she began high school. So, whenever she wanted to try modeling, she always kept it under consideration.

One day, she went to Miami during the Miami Swim Week and visited some brands. There, she was constantly asked about her modeling agencies. With that, she wanted to try modeling, so she took some decent pictures of herself and applied to some Miami-based agencies to be closer to home.

Ponton initially aimed to be selected by the Wilhelmina Models and eventually got a call from them. She was ecstatic. She even recalled crying after being accepted by the agency and meeting with her agent before the pandemic, "I remember signing to Wilhelmina and I 100% cried. It was crazy because I wanted them to be my agency. Even though I was talking to other agencies, it was always 'I want to sign to Wilhelmina.' I remember being in my car and blaring music, crying of such happiness. I signed with them about a year ago, I met my agent in March. I went right before COVID hit, literally the day before. It's been crazy."

After that, she got featured in an advertisement for SKIMS, a famous brand owned by Kim Kardashian. She also launched her swimwear collection with White Shore Swim.

Social Media

Besides her modeling career, Ponton joined social media during her final year of high school. She rose to prominence on TikTok with her dance videos. The social media influencer said she never intended to be famous, but many requested her workout routines after her dance videos. So, she shared that too, which made her more popular. She has over 3.2 million followers on her Instagram account and has 7.2 million TikTok followers as of August 2021.

Ponton recounted her first random video she uploaded before a football match and surprised her upon return. She said, "My first video that ever did good was so random. I posted it right before I went to a football game at my high school. I never went to football games, so it was weird I was going. 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?!"

Hype House

In June 2020, Ponton became a member of the Hype House, a group of significant and growing TikTok stars. Thomas Petrou and Chase Hudson founded the group in December 2019. While not all the team members live there, the house serves as a gathering spot for the group to collaborate and be creative.

She joined the house right after she signed with the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency. She revealed there has never been a dull moment after she moved to Los Angeles to join the house. 

Personal Life

Ponton was in a relationship with Kio Cyr, a TikTok star and a member of Sway House. They began dating in March 2020. They went on a few romantic dates during their four-month romance, including a pottery-making date and long days by the pool. The romance, however, came to an abrupt end in June of the same year. Neither of them has discussed the reasons for their breakup in public. However, Cyr stated in an Instagram Live video that she was his "first everything,"

Who Is Olivia Ponton Dating?

Ponton has been dating Kaila Novak, a UCLA Women's Soccer team member. She said that she entered Novak's Instagram messages after an encounter through TikTok videos. She first hesitated to text for a week, attempting to figure out whether she just liked or was attracted to Novak's beauty. After some back-and-forth and Novak curving her for a week before answering, they started seeing one other regularly in January 2021.

As Novak kept her personal life out of the spotlight even with an ample following on TikTok, fans speculated that their relationship was just a cheap publicity attempt to get her younger sister some attention and clout. However, Ponton defended her girlfriend, eluding their deep friendship and placing a lot of faith in each other, and the rumors didn't significantly affect them.

Coming Out

Ponton came out as bisexual in June 2021. She said, “I want to announce that I’m bisexual, and I’m now proud to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community.” She did a TikTok lip-sync video on 11 March 2021, which hinted that she was attracted to women. Her fans speculated that this was her method of expressing herself. Later, Ponton revealed that her first official 'coming out' moment occurred when she told her closest friend about her attraction to females was her first time putting feelings into words. She added that JoJo Siwa's admission of identifying as a member of LGBTQ fueled her desire to come out officially.

Ponton said she was motivated by Siwa's candor to speak her mind, not only for herself but for the countless young girls in similar situations, "I saw that and thought 'Wow, that's really amazing for young children now because she's such a big role model. And she's really become almost a role model for me to look up to as well. I want to let young girls know that it's okay to not even know your sexuality until you're older. I think it should be more normalized to come out [when you're ready for it]. I want to let young girls know that it's normal to not know your sexuality till you're older. Coming out [when you're ready] should be more normalized, in my opinion."