From Purple Swimsuits to Paradise: A Bachelor Star's Glow-Up

There’s something oddly satisfying about watching a childhood photo of someone who’d eventually become a reality TV fixture. This particular throwback shows a blonde-haired kid from Birmingham, Alabama, rocking a purple swimsuit and soaking up summer—the kind of carefree moment that feels worlds away from rose ceremonies and dating drama.

But here’s where the story gets interesting: she didn’t just show up on a dating show and call it a day. She appeared on Colton Underwood’s season of The Bachelor, but the real love story didn’t happen there. Instead, she found her person on Bachelor in Paradise—the spin-off that’s basically become the franchise’s second chance romance machine. It’s a detail that matters, because it says something about how these shows actually work. Sometimes the first time isn’t the charm. Sometimes you need a beach, lower stakes, and a second trip around the block.

Since then, she’s become the type of person who fits seamlessly into the festival circuit—a self-described Coachella and Revolve girlie who clearly leaned into the influencer lifestyle that comes with Bachelor Nation fame. It’s the natural evolution for someone who started out competing in beauty pageants as a kid. From pageant stages to reality television to the festival fashion circuit, she’s built a pretty recognizable brand.

The real takeaway? These before-and-after moments remind us that the people we see on our screens were just regular kids with dreams once. The path from a purple swimsuit in Alabama to Paradise wasn’t inevitable—it was a series of choices, appearances, and a little bit of right-place-right-time casting luck.