Olivia Flowers Opens Up About Her Career and What She Did Before Southern Charm
The Southern Charm cast member actually used to work behind the camera.
Bravo fans may know Olivia Flowers best as a cast member on Southern Charm, but before she joined the Charleston crew on Season 8, she spent a lot of time behind the camera.
Olivia appeared on a recent episode of the Charleston Marketing Podcast, and she opened up about what she does for work now, and about her past experience as a production assistant in Los Angeles.
What is Olivia Flowers' job?
Olivia is currently involved in social media marketing. Once Olivia made her Southern Charm debut, she said she got a "really good" social media manager, and she talked to other influencers in the area to help figure out which brands to work with.
What does Olivia Flowers do?
After determining that she was most passionate about being active and finding food that meets her dietary restrictions (she's gluten free), Olivia began developing her social media brand around wellness.
As she explained on the podcast, her ultimate goal would be to own an athleisure brand.
Olivia Flowers' Past Work Experience
Before she relocated back to Charleston, Olivia spent a number of years living in Los Angeles. In between her junior and senior years at Clemson University, Olivia spent the summer out West to do "work behind-the-camera stuff."
"I didn't want to leave," she shared on the podcast. "My parents were like, 'Just finish college. You['ve] got one more year and then you can go back.' So, I did that."
After her 2015 graduation, Olivia did go back, though she admitted that she "underestimated the whole process."
"I was like, 'Oh, I'm going to get an agent and be in the next Hunger Game[s] and I'll be set," Olivia said about her desire to be an actress. "I totally underestimated the process, so I got a job as a production assistant, and I learned so much."
"I was happy to get people's coffee and breakfast all day if it meant I got to be on set. I just stood behind the director and video village and would just — I was the worst production assistant. Unless someone came up to me and needed something, my eyes were just glued on that whole process, and I loved it," she added.
Oliva said that she worked as a production assistant on two scripted shows, including the USA series, Colony.
"I loved it. I had so much fun. I learned a lot," she said about the experience. "I actually learned that I needed to learn more."
That's when Olivia realized that she would need an acting coach. She went to Atlanta to get one along with an agent, and she actually ended up working for an acting coach along the way.
"She would coach them in their auditions," Olivia explained about her former boss. "If they booked it, then they would hire her to come on set and help with their scene. I got to do all her editing, and watch — it was really cool because I got to watch the tapes of people that booked the job, so I could see what worked, what didn't, and that's when I realized I wanted to be behind [the] camera."
After two years in Atlanta, Olivia said she returned to LA, where she "started working as an assistant to an on-set acting coach."
Once the pandemic hit, Olivia returned to Charleston to stay with her family. She reconnected with family friend Leva Bonaparte and, after briefly going back to LA again, Olivia moved back to South Carolina for good.
See more from Olivia, Leva, and the rest of the Charm-ers by tuning in to new episodes of Southern Charm on Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo. Stream episodes the next day on Peacock.
Originally published Oct 3, 2023.
